An Easy Day at the Office, right?
by MoxiesdenLovesShandy
Summary: Andy and Sharon find themselves returning to work after the team's time off to what they think should be an easy day at the office. But, we all know that is not the case when you are in the Major Crimes division of the LAPD. This story follows the events in my last story "Staged".
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters. They belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** The only characters that are mine in this story are Matthew and Moxie, but they show up in a later chapter. This story follows the timeline in my previous story "Staged" and picks up from it. Also, it might be a little AU in the chapters following.

Chapter 1

It was turning out to be a bright, sunny Monday morning in southern California, blue skies, and not a cloud in sight. Traffic was bustling down the highways leading into downtown Los Angeles. It was morning rush hour and people were heading in to work.

Sharon was waking up to the smell of fresh coffee being brewed. She looked over to see if Andy was still in bed but his side was empty. She walked into her kitchen and smiled when a cup of coffee was handed to her. "Hmm, thank you" she said to Andy as she took a sip and sat down at the table. Andy had been up for a while and decided that he would make Sharon her favorite coffee this morning. He was tempted to have a cup himself, but promised Sharon a while back that he would obey his doctor's orders and not have anything with caffeine in it anymore. "How did you sleep?" Andy asked her as he joined her at the table with the morning newspaper and some breakfast. "Hmm, wonderful" she said back to him and smiled as she touched her hair. "How did you sleep?" she asked him. He smiled back at her and chuckled a little. "Absolutely fantastic" he said to her as he grabbed her hand and gently caressed it.

They had enjoyed their time away on Coronado Island and Sharon was able to relax and really enjoy herself without worrying about anything work related. They were both going into work later than usual but their team didn't have a callout so it was assumed that today would be an office day. Rusty made his way into the kitchen and he was already dressed. He rushed around the kitchen like he was late. "Everything okay, Rusty?" Sharon asked him. "Yeah Mom, everything is fine" he said as he gathered some items to take with him to class. "I'm supposed to be meeting with Professor Gracey this morning to discuss my future classes and I am running a little behind schedule" Rusty said as he gathered his backpack and started to head to the door. "Good luck kid!" Andy raised his voice as Rusty was walking out the door. Rusty waved back without turning around and headed to his classes.

Andy turned his attention back to Sharon. "So, we have about an hour before we have to leave" Andy said to her as he looked into her eyes and raised his eyebrows. Sharon looked at him and smiled. "What do you have in mind, Lieutenant?" Sharon asked in a sultry voice. "Well Captain" Andy looked down at the table and then back up at her. "We need to shower before we leave and since everyone is talking about conserving water lately, it would only be right to mother nature that we conserve water and take a shower together" Andy said to her proudly. Sharon smirked at him and sighed. "I can't argue with that!" she said to him as she got up from the table and led him back to bathroom.

As they were in the shower together, Andy was washing Sharon's body with her favorite body wash. "I can't wait till we move into our new house" he whispered to her as he leaned in for a kiss. Sharon hummed. "Me too" she said back to him. Sharon turned around and rinsed herself off and stepped out of the shower. Andy then rinsed himself off and step out, grabbing a towel and drying off. Sharon had slipped a towel around her body as she looked in their closet for some clothes to wear for today. Andy waited until she was done in the closet before going in to pick his suit and tie out. He had a red tie that matched Sharon's dress perfectly. It would drive Provenza crazy that they were still matching their outfits in some way. Andy chuckled to himself at that thought.

They had put Sharon's condo on the market and it didn't take long for an offer to come across that matched what she wanted to sell for. They were closing on their new house in a couple of weeks and the condo would be closing in a month. That would give them time to move Sharon's things out of the condo once the house was officially theirs. They were having the home inspector come out on Wednesday to the new house to make sure everything was good and up to code. Andy was going to take a day off from work to be there when the inspector did this. Sharon offered to take the day off as well, but Andy insisted that he could handle it.

They both left to head in to work. Listening to the traffic report lead them to drive together. They took Andy's car in today. The commute was not too bad from Sharon's condo and hopefully when they move into the new house, it would be either the same or a little less since they were moving in the same area. Andy parked his car in the parking garage and Sharon stepped out of her side of the vehicle. Andy came up to her side and they held hands as they walked to the elevators. They waited patiently for the elevator to come down to their level and then stepped inside of it and took it to their floor.

When Sharon and Andy stepped out of the elevator, Lieutenant Tao was right there to meet them. "Captain" Mike addressed her as he held some paperwork in his hands. Andy glanced at the papers in his hands. "Did we catch a case, Mike?" Andy asked him as they all headed towards the Murder Room. "Well, not exactly" Mike said as they walked through the door into the office. "What's all that paperwork in your hands then, Lieutenant?" Sharon asked him as she headed for her office. "It's something that was brought to my attention by our friends down in Robbery/Homicide" Mike said as he handed the paperwork to Sharon. "Oh geeze!" Andy said as he followed Sharon towards everyone's desks now.

"It's a cold case" Mike said as he handed the paperwork around to Provenza, Julio, Amy, Sharon, and Andy. "How can it be a cold case already, if this happened three days ago?" Provenza asked Mike. "It's not cold, the idiots down there don't know how to run an investigation so they pass it on to us" Andy said frustrated. He was hoping for a nice easy day back. "They ran out of leads" Mike said as he shrugged his shoulders. "Anyways I ran into Williamson downstairs and he was wondering if we could take a look at this and see what we thought" Mike continued and looked back at Sharon. She was reading over the paperwork that Provenza kept handing to her. "Hmm, would this be an official request?" Sharon asked Mike. "Because if it is, we are going to have to follow the chain of command and have the request come from Captain Hayes, himself" she continued as she looked back at Mike. "I'll let Williamson know" Mike said as he sat back down at his desk and picked up his phone.

Sharon then proceeded to walk into her office and turned the lights on. She laid her bag on the chair across from her desk and then sat down at her desk looking over the papers that Williamson gave Mike. 'This case was three days old, how could it have gone cold already?' Sharon thought to herself.

Meanwhile Provenza and the rest of the team remained at their desks as Sharon walked towards her office. Provenza waited till Sharon closed the door and then laid into Andy. "What did you do to the Captain?" Provenza asked Andy. "What do you mean, why do you think I did something?" Andy stated back. "Because Flynn, she would have jumped on the opportunity to look into this case, now she wants a formal request from Captain Hayes?" Provenza stated back to him. Andy just gave him a look and walked over to where Provenza was and leaned down. "Look, maybe the Captain wants to do this case by the book, ever think of that?" Andy said almost snarling to his partner. "Perhaps she saw something in the paperwork that would lead her and us to do things properly" Andy added and then walked away from Provenza and headed to his own desk. "I still think it's your fault" Provenza snickered back at Andy.

Andy turned around and gave him his 'bite me' look and sat down at his desk. Andy glanced over at Sharon in her office. She was busy looking through the papers. Maybe she did see something that everyone missed and that's why she wanted things done properly. After all, when she was in charge of FID, everything she did was by the book. Andy looked back at his desk and turned his computer on. He figured it was going to be a long day and wished that he and Sharon were still on Coronado Island.

A couple of hours later, after getting the formal request from Captain Hayes, Sharon and her team started to work on the cold case. It was a murder investigation, but there were no witnesses that had come forth. Robbery/Homicide exhausted all of their leads and ran into a dead end. That's why Williamson had requested the help of Mike and Major Crimes. The murder had taken place in Echo Park. A woman in her late 40s was found near the corner of Lemoyne Street and Sunset Boulevards behind a donation center. She was severely beaten to death. The person who had found the body was the overnight attendant at the center, and he had called the Police. The victim's name was Rebecca Norris. They had an address on her driver's license but it had come back to being non-existent.

Amy started to put the pictures up on the board and Julio contacted his friend in the Narcotics/Gang division to see if this might have been gang related. Sharon had Andy look up the Rebecca's background and financials while Mike went into an evidence bag and pulled out the victim's phone to try and see what they could find on that. Provenza was on the phone with Dr. Morales who was going over his notes from the autopsy. Provenza was writing the information down as Andy walked by his desk on the way to the printer. Andy had printed out the woman's financials and went to place the coins in Provenza's jar on his desk when he glanced down at what he was writing. Provenza was writing down what the doctor was telling him but he was also working on his crossword puzzle. Andy pointed to the puzzle underneath the paper. "Really?" he said to him and shook his head walking back to where Sharon was standing next to his desk.

Sharon looked at Andy as she had seen the look on his face when he passed by Provenza's desk. Andy looked back at her and just shook his head. She took it as Provenza just being Provenza and focused on the financials that Andy had passed to her. She looked on through the paperwork and found something that stood out. "Andy, what do you make of this?" Sharon asked him as she pointed to the paper. Andy looked at the listing where Sharon was pointing. It was a check that was written out to Foundation for Early Childhood Education in Echo Park. "Looks like it is for child care?" Andy said back to Sharon as he looked at her. "Does Rebecca have any children?" Sharon asked her team. They all looked up at her. No one answered. "We need to find out people because we may have a child involved" Sharon said to them and walked into her office. Everyone quickly got back to work. If Rebecca did have a child, they needed to find them quickly.

"Andy" Sharon said in her office to him sitting outside. Andy got up and walked into her office. "I need you to contact that childhood education place" Sharon said to him and he nodded. "You're telling me that Robbery/Homicide couldn't put this together?" Sharon added as she looked at him. Andy shook his head and shrugged. Sharon was going to have a long talk with Captain Hayes in front of Chief Howard. She picked up the phone and dialed the Chief's office. Sharon was pissed and she was going to let the Chief know about it.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters. They belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** The only characters that are mine in this story are Matthew and Moxie, which show up in this chapter. Also, this story will start to go a little AU, just warning. I try to stay close as I can with the characters and what we know about them. Also I have to thank _**MCTVFan**_ for a little insight into Sharon's character. Thank you

Chapter 2

After having a meeting in Chief Howard's office between Sharon and Captain Hayes, Chief Howard was frantically searching for some headache relief. He searched his top drawer of his desk and found some pills and took them. He was relieved that Captain Hayes had left his office and that only Sharon was there now. She knew that he had a heart attack a few years back because he shared that with her when Andy was in the hospital. "Are you okay, Chief?" Sharon asked him. "Yes Captain, I'm fine" he said to her. "So where are you and your team at on this case?" he asked her and she began to tell him.

"So there's a child missing in all of this?" he asked her as he went over the paperwork. "Well, we don't know for sure. Nothing in Rebecca's background suggests that she had a child but writing several checks to the Foundation for Early Childhood Education in Echo Park suggests otherwise" Sharon had said to him. Just then, there was a knock on Chief Howard's door. Julio walked in and told the Captain and Chief Howard that they may have found something. Sharon got up from her chair and rushed out of Chief Howard's office following Julio. Chief Howard did the same and caught up with them in the video room.

"We found surveillance, ma'am, from a building across the street from the donation center where the body was found" Julio started to say as Buzz put the pictures up on the video screen board. The video showed the woman, Rebecca, standing with two other people and seemed to be talking to them. Then an argument broke out and the video showed Rebecca getting beat up by the two unknown people. "Okay, so we are now looking for two assailants in this case" Provenza said to the team as they all went back to looking at the screen. The two unknown people then walk away towards Lemoyne Street but the camera doesn't get a good look at them. "Pause it Buzz" Sharon said to him. "There, can you blow that up?" she asked him. "I'll try Captain but the quality of this video isn't that great" Buzz said as he tried to get a better picture on the two assailants.

Buzz continued to play the video for the team and as the team watched it, they could not believe their eyes. From out of the shadows, a little kid walked up to the body of Rebecca. You can see on the video that the little kid is trying to get Rebecca to wake up but nothing happens. Sharon looked on at the video that was playing before her eyes and it started to break her heart. Andy glanced over at Sharon and he could see tears forming in her eyes. 'Yep, this was going to be a hard case now' Andy thought to himself. Sharon glanced over at Andy and then looked down. She did not need him to see her vulnerable right now. She quickly composed herself before anyone else saw. They needed to find this kid and soon. Next on the video showed the kid looking up at something and then a dog came into the scene. The kid and the dog then walk off the view of the camera. "We need to find that child, now!" Sharon's voice cracked as everyone got up and headed back to their desks. Andy stayed behind to make sure that Sharon was okay. He placed his hand on her shoulder. Sharon was looking intently on the screen that showed the child wandering off.

"I was hoping that we would have an easy day today" she whispered to him as she stared at the screen. "Sharon, we don't even know who this kid is on the screen. He could be anyone for all we know. There's nothing in Rebecca's background that suggests she had a child and that Foundation for Early Childhood Education couldn't give me an answer on who Rebecca was" Andy advised her as she started to walk out of the room. They headed back towards her office. She passed everyone who was working on trying to figure out two things: who the people were in the video that attacked their victim and who the kid was at the end of the video. Sharon's phone had beeped. She had texted Rusty earlier to let him know that they had caught a case and were probably going to be home late. She just got back was a response from him saying 'okay'.

"Lieutenant Provenza, will you join Lieutenant Flynn and me in my office" Sharon demanded as she walked in to her office. Andy followed her in and waited till Provenza entered before shutting the door. "I want to call the Foundation for Early Childhood Education back and demand to know why they don't know who Rebecca is" Sharon suggested but before Provenza could interrupt her, she continued on. "And, I want patrol looking for the child and the dog in the area of the donation center." Provenza looked at her to see if she was done and when she didn't say anything back he answered, "Yes Captain". "I want the two of you in here when I speak to the director of the childhood place" she responded as Andy handed her the phone number. She dialed the number and waited for someone to pick it up.

"Oh, hello my name is Captain Sharon Flynn from the LAPD. Is this Director Stevens?" she inquired to the person on the other end of the phone. "Director Stevens I need to ask you a couple of questions over the phone, is that okay?" Sharon asked and then started to go into her questions. Andy had smiled when she introduced herself as Captain Sharon Flynn. This was the first time she addressed herself professionally with his last name. She had told him when they had gotten their marriage license that she was going to change her name and that they would work out the details at work later but he didn't really think she had done so. Come to think of it, she did sign her name as Sharon Flynn on the paperwork for HR last week. Her nameplate on her desk still said Captain Sharon Raydor on it. Andy noted in his head that he would have to change that soon. Provenza looked at Andy and could tell he was deep in thought and smacked him in the shoulder. "Ouch! Why'd you do that?" Andy let slip out loud. Sharon looked at the both of them and then returned back to the person on the phone.

Sharon wrote down the information that the director had given her over the phone and hung up. Andy and Provenza were sitting across from her at her desk. Andy gave her an inquisitive look. Sharon leaned forward and placed her hands clamped together on her desk. "Rebecca does have a child" she revealed to the both of them. Andy and Provenza both looked at each other and then back at Sharon. "How come we didn't know about this?" Provenza asked. "Because, Lieutenant, the child doesn't have the same last name as Rebecca" Sharon pointed out. "The child's name is Matthew Gomez, and he is 8 years old" she stated to them. "Gomez is the father's last name" Andy replied and Sharon nodded in the affirmative. "So where's the dad?" Provenza questioned.

"He died in Afghanistan" Amy stated to them as she put the picture of Luis Gomez on the Murder Board. "He was a Sergeant in the US Army and was there on his second tour of duty when his group was ambushed in the hills" she revealed to everyone as she read the notes out loud. "Did anything in Rebecca's financials suggest that she was getting a pension from the US Army?" Sharon questioned Amy. "Nothing Captain, it seems to me that the two of them were not married" Amy suggested. "So what was she doing at the back of a donation center at midnight, and why was Matthew there with her?" Sharon asked everyone as she stared at the surveillance picture on the Murder Board.

"We need to find that child soon!" she told everyone. Provenza stood up and gathered his jacket. "We will go out with patrol and look for the child, Captain" he stated to her. "I'm going too" Sharon insisted. "We will split up into teams and search all of Rebecca's known residences and look for Matthew" she informed her team and they nodded and headed out. "Everyone be careful and stay safe" she added. Andy walked over to where Sharon was standing. "Ready?" he asked her. She nodded and they left.

The team was dividing up the list of known addresses. Amy and Mike were going to head over to the address on Rosemont Avenue. It was a long shot as Rebecca hasn't resided there since 2014, but they checked it out anyway. Provenza and Julio traveled to the house on Scott Avenue. As they pulled up to the house, they noticed a white truck that had graffiti written all over it. "We are in Echo Park Locos territory sir" Julio said to Provenza. "Great" Provenza muttered to himself as he got out of the Explorer. Patrol met them there and they did a cursory search of the property, but came up empty handed. "The locals are watching, sir" Julio said to Provenza as he pointed out the group that formed on the corner of Scott and Parmer Avenues. "Would you like me to ask them if they know anything?" Julio asked Provenza. "Why not, it can't hurt anything" Provenza shrugged his shoulders.

Julio walked over to where the crowd had gathered and asked the people if they knew Rebecca Norris. Only one person came forth as knowing her but she told Julio that Rebecca moved out of this area 3 months ago due to gang violence. Julio thanked her and returned back to the car where Provenza was standing. "She said that Rebecca moved about 3 months ago from this area due to gang violence" Julio said. "Only to be murdered south of here" Provenza grimly stated. "Perhaps the Captain and Flynn are having better luck than we are" he said as they pulled away and started to drive.

Sharon and Andy were heading to Rebecca's last known address. Sharon was pretty disturbed by the fact that Robbery/Homicide really didn't investigate this murder the way they should have. Andy could tell that this case was going to be a tough one, but now with a missing child involved, he hoped that they would find him soon. They pulled up to Rebecca's last known address on Redesdale Avenue, which was in the Silver Lake area more so than Echo Park. Both Sharon and Andy got out of the car and informed patrol that they just wanted them to look on the outside of the house while Sharon and Andy knocked on the door. Heck maybe if the kid was there, he would answer the door. Andy and Sharon made their way up to the front door and knocked, but there was no answer. "Would an 8 year old kid lock the door if he was home?" Andy questioned as he tried the door handle. It was not locked and Sharon and Andy entered the house. They had extenuated circumstances to conduct their search.

As Andy made his way into the house, Sharon followed closely behind him. They did not want to frighten the kid if he was home so their guns were not drawn. Here's hoping they would not regret that decision if someone else was in the house. The TV was on but the voice was lowered as they walked past it in the house. They made their way around room to room searching for Matthew. They passed the dining room table and saw some food laying out. "Matthew are you home?" Sharon asked out loud, but got no response. They went towards the kitchen and saw a mess on the stove. "Matthew, we are the police and we are here to help you" Andy tried but got no answer as well. Just then he heard a noise coming from the back bedrooms. Andy went down the hallway first before Sharon and entered the room. "Matthew?" he called out again. "Matthew, we are police, it's okay" Sharon said in a friendly tone.

Andy opened the closet door to find a scared little boy and a black Labrador dog. "Matthew?" Andy asked as he bent down to him. The boy looked up at him and nodded his head 'yes'. Andy looked back at Sharon and let out a deep breath of relief. Sharon did the same as she came over to see where Matthew was sitting in the closet. "Hey buddy, why don't we get you to come out here and sit on the bed" Andy said in a soothing voice. As Andy stood up, he put out his hand for Matthew to take. Matthew grabbed onto it and held it for dear life as Andy lead him out towards the bed. The dog followed the two of them and sat next to Andy. Sharon looked the boy over to make sure he wasn't injured. "Are you injured Matthew?" Sharon asked the boy quietly. The boy nodded 'no' as Sharon looked at him. He was scared and his clothes were dirty.

Andy texted Provenza on the phone to let them know that they had found Matthew at the Resdesdale house. 'Thank goodness, good work!' Provenza replied to him and also told him that they were going to meet them there. As Sharon was talking to the boy, she asked him if he was hungry. "Yes" Matthew said in an even quieter voice. He looked like he could use a bath, but other than that, seemed to look okay according to Sharon. Matthew reminded the both of them of Andy's step-grandsons. The dog put his paw on Andy's hand as Andy went to look at the dog. "What's your dog's name Matthew?" Andy asked him. "Moxie" Matthew replied and then clinched on to Andy's arm as Andy tried to stand up. "Don't go, please" Matthew pleaded in a small voice. Andy looked at Sharon and then back at Matthew and knelt down to his level. "I'm not leaving you, Matthew. I just need to tell the nice police officers that we found you safe and I'll be right back, I promise" Andy said and then gave the kid a wink.

Matthew looked at Sharon who was now sitting next to him where Andy got up. "What's your name?" Matthew asked her. "My name is Sharon and that is Andy" she said as she pointed to where Andy was now. "We are both police officers and we were looking for you. We wanted to make sure that you were okay" Sharon started to tell the boy. "My mom is dead" Matthew said quietly and clung onto Sharon's side. Sharon pulled him in for a hug to comfort the boy. "I know" she whispered to him trying to soothe him as he cried. It broke her heart. Moxie jumped on the bed and placed his head on Sharon's lap. Andy walked back in to see the scene in front of him with Sharon comforting the boy and the dog lying next to her.

"We are going to take you to where we work at the police headquarters and get you cleaned up and fed, how does that sound?" Sharon said to Matthew. "Can Moxie come with us?" Matthew asked innocently and looked at both Sharon and Andy. Andy looked at Sharon and then back at Matthew. "Of course" he said to him. Andy placed a leash on Moxie's collar and the dog walked with him by his side. Sharon went to look for clothes for the child and packed a bag for him. Sharon and Matthew were right behind them when the rest of the team showed up outside. Matthew clung to Sharon's side as new people showed up. "Don't worry Matthew, these guys are with us" Sharon bent her head down to him. Matthew nodded but didn't let go of his grip on Sharon.

"We are going to get him back to the office and get him some food to eat" Andy started to say to Provenza. "The dog too?" Provenza looked at him with a questionable look. "Yes, don't worry, I'll put him by your desk" Andy chuckled to Provenza and then opened the door to the Explorer and the dog jumped in the back seat. "Don't you dare, Flynn!" Provenza shouted back to him. A patrol officer was carrying a box of items that he thought the Captain and the Lieutenant would need. "Ma'am, here you go" he said as he handed her the box of dog items. "Thank you" she said back to the patrol officer as she had gotten Matthew settled in the back seat as well. Sharon placed the bag for Matthew in the back of the car.

"Can you sit here with me?" Matthew asked her. "Oh, um sure" she replied and got in the back seat as well. She felt sorry for the child and wanted to comfort him, but she also had to protect herself. She made sure his seatbelt was on. This boy was scared but somehow knew the police officers were going to help him. After Sharon sat in the back with him, Matthew reached out for her hand and Sharon held it. Andy got in the car and looked over at Sharon. She glanced over at him and smiled. Andy smiled back and then looked at Matthew. His eyes were already closed as his head was against Sharon's left arm. Andy drove back to their office, thankful that they found the kid.

When they arrived back at the PAB, Matthew was out like a light so Andy carried him into the elevator while Sharon had the leash of the dog and the box patrol gave them. They rode the elevator in silence. Andy glanced over at Sharon who was looking back at Matthew the whole time. Another child witness they had on their hands from a brutal crime. When they arrived at their floor, they stepped out and headed towards the Murder Room. Andy brought Matthew into Sharon's office and laid him on the couch there. He then placed a blanket over the kid. The dog jumped on the couch too and laid next to Matthew.

"Okay, so what's next?" Andy asked Sharon as he pulled her in for a hug. She looked exhausted now. "We need to find the killers but we also need to take care of Matthew" Sharon sighed as Andy held her. Andy had left to go to the break room to see what he could gather up for Matthew when he woke up. He was sure that the kid would be hungry. He told Sharon that he was hungry when they had found him. That was an hour ago and the kid must have been exhausted as he fell asleep right away. He returned to Sharon's office with some food and Matthew stirred on the couch. The dog woke up when Andy came back in and was wagging his tail. "Someone's happy to see you" Sharon chuckled. Andy went over to pet the dog after he had placed the food on Sharon's table in the office. Matthew woke up and ate the food that Andy had brought. Sharon had eaten too, and so did Andy. Afterwards, Andy took Matthew to the men's room and got him cleaned up and changed his clothes while Sharon went over some paperwork on her desk.

It was getting late and by the time everyone came back, it was past 8 o'clock at night. Sharon hated to call DCFS but she wanted to let them know that there was a child involved in their latest case and it looked like there were no known relatives around. Cynthia had come down to their office to assess the situation. Sharon was still set up for emergency foster care. Julio was too, but when Matthew woke up and Cynthia spoke to him, he wanted to stay with Sharon. Sharon nodded at the boy and Cynthia filed the necessary paperwork needed.

Sharon stepped out of her office while Andy stayed in there with Matthew and Moxie. She walked over to where Provenza was sitting and informed her team that they should go home, get some rest, and then come back tomorrow morning to continue to look for those two assailants that were on the video. They all agreed and left the office to head to their respected homes. Sharon walked back in to her office and saw the sight before her. Andy was sitting on the couch with his head leaned back. His eyes were closed. He had Matthew tucked under his arm, eyes closed, close to his side, and the dog was sleeping on both Andy's and Matthew's lap. She smirked to herself and woke up Andy.

"Hey" she whispered as Andy woke up. "Hi" Andy whispered back. "I sent everyone home and I think we should do the same" she continued to say in a whisper. "Okay" Andy replied as he started to get up careful not to wake Matthew. The dog woke up and jumped off the couch. "I got him" Andy stated as he lifted Matthew into his arms to carry him. "Be careful Andy, I don't want you hurting anything carrying him" Sharon said to him. Andy flashed his trademark grin at her and they were ready to leave the office and head home. "Where's Matthew and the dog going to sleep once we get them home?" Andy asked Sharon as they stepped into the elevator. "I'm texting Rusty to let him know we are leaving and that we are bringing home an 8 year old child, he will understand" Sharon answered back.

They arrived home at the condo and Rusty greeted them at the door to help with anything they needed carried. Matthew was still sleeping and Andy carried him to Rusty's room. The dog had followed them. Sharon walked with Rusty to the kitchen. "Are you sure you are okay with this?" Sharon asked him. "Yes, he's a kid and he needs a place, he can stay in my room. Anyways I cleaned it up and there is nothing laying around so the dog is good too" Rusty said to Sharon. She was so proud of him. She placed her hand on the side of his face and smiled. After all, it wasn't so long ago when she brought him to her condo for the first time.

"He's definitely out for the night" Andy came back and met them in the kitchen. Rusty left to go sit on the couch where he had his pillow and blanket all ready. He was finishing some homework. Andy walked up to where Sharon was standing in front of the sink and wrapped his hands around her waist. "Let's go to bed" Andy whispered into her ear. Sharon smiled and took Andy's hand in hers and walked down the hallway. "Good night Rusty" she called out to him quietly. "Good night" Rusty said back and continued to work on something.

Sharon had then peaked her head in the room where Matthew was to see how he was doing. She saw he was sleeping peacefully and the dog picked its head up to look at Sharon. "Good night Moxie" she said to the dog and closed the door behind her. She headed towards their bedroom where Andy was getting ready for bed. She changed her clothes, climbed in besides him, and he wrapped his arms around her. "What's the matter?" he asked in a whisper. "Nothing" Sharon said, her mind not willing to be shut off even though they were home. "Get some rest honey and tomorrow we will get a fresh start on catching the bad guys" Andy said as Sharon settled back into his chest and closed her eyes.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters. They belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Hello everyone! As you all probably saw my Chicago Cubs won Game 7 of the World Series last night and are the World Champions now after 108 years! I was up late watching the game but I was able to give you guys an update to this story this morning. Now to make everything complete, we need a Major Crimes Renewal for Season 6! Come on TNT! Thanks everyone for the reviews.

Chapter 3

The house was very quiet as Matthew got up early Tuesday morning. Andy had left the side lamp on for him in case he got scared. He was in a strange room but knew it was safe. He had a bad dream that woke him up. He had his teddy bear with him and saw Moxie laying at the foot of the bed. As he shuffled out of the large bed he was in, Moxie woke up and was right by his side. He took the dog by its collar and along with the teddy bear; he made his way across the hall towards Sharon and Andy's room. Their door was cracked open a tiny bit and Sharon heard Matthew open his door. She reached over and turned her lamp on the nightstand just as Matthew was coming into the room.

Andy woke up and saw Sharon sitting up on the bed, she glanced at the clock. It read 3:30. "What is it, sweetheart?" he mumbled to her. Sharon looked at Andy, "Matthew is here" she whispered. Andy sat up and saw Matthew and the dog on his side of the bed. "Hey buddy, everything okay?" Andy whispered to Matthew. Matthew shook his head no. "I had a bad dream" he said quietly. Andy looked back at Sharon. That broke Sharon's heart listening to the kid and Andy knew that. "Why don't we head back to the other room, so you could sleep in there and I'll stay with you" Andy said as he got out of bed. He gave Sharon a look and shrugged his shoulders and then walked out with the boy and the dog. Andy lead the boy back into Rusty's room and noticed that the sheets on the bed were all bunched up towards the foot of the bed. "Alright get back into bed" Andy whispered to him. Matthew did just that and placed his teddy bear next to him. Andy pulled the sheets over the kid and tucked him in. Andy then pulled Rusty's chair over to the bed and sat down on it.

Matthew looked over at Andy as Andy was watching him. The leather computer chair Rusty had was not comfortable at all. Andy grimaced as he scooted up on the chair. "Are you okay?" Matthew asked him quietly. Andy looked at him and smiled. "I'm good, Matthew" Andy yawned. Matthew reached out for Andy's hand and grabbed it and then laid back down to fall asleep. Meanwhile, Moxie had laid down next to Andy's feet. So the kid and dog were getting attached to him, he thought. "Can you tell me a story?" Matthew asked in a whisper. "Sure, I have a story that I tell my step-grandkids all the time" Andy whispered back to him. Andy started to quietly tell Matthew the story when he noticed that Matthew's eyes were closed and his breathing was evening out.

Sharon had walked into Rusty's room to check on things and saw Andy sitting next to Matthew on a chair that was not comfortable. Andy looked over at Sharon who was looking at the both of them. He smiled at her. He knew that Sharon was getting attached to him; it didn't take her long just like she did with Rusty. Heck, he was getting attached to the kid as well. Although, Sharon was trying to hide her attachment, but Andy knew her. He wasn't sure if this was a good idea but he wanted to make the kid feel safe and protected, after all he witnessed his mom's murder and was on his own for a couple of days. "Are you sure you are okay in here?" Sharon whispered to Andy. "I'm good, go back to sleep, Sharon" Andy whispered back to her. She nodded turned around and went into their room.

Sharon had woken before her alarm went off. She glanced at Andy's side of the bed but he must have still been in Rusty's room with Matthew. She stepped into the bathroom and then padded across the hall to Rusty's room where they were at. She slowly opened the door and found Andy sleeping sitting up in the chair while Matthew was laying close to the edge of the bed. Matthew was still holding onto Andy's hand. Andy was slightly snoring and she needed to wake him up before his back protested later on in the day. "Andy" she caressed his cheek trying to gently wake him up. Andy opened his eyes to see Sharon standing by him. He glanced down to see Matthew sleeping. "Ugh, what time is it?" Andy groggily asked her. "5:30" she answered him. "Come back to bed, your back is not going to like you otherwise" Sharon whispered. She helped him stand up from the chair and he heard his back creak once he stood up. Andy then followed Sharon back to their bed. Sharon rubbed Andy's back as he laid down next to her.

Their alarm went off at 6:30 and both Andy and Sharon got themselves up and out of bed. Andy took the dog outside to do its duties while Sharon got dressed and ready for work. Andy then took the dog in the kitchen and fed it some food that they had taken from the house they found Matthew in. The dog was hungry and ate every bite. Then Andy went back into their room to get himself ready for work. Rusty was still sleeping on the couch. When Andy walked back in, he saw Sharon was already dressed. She passed him and headed to Rusty's room to wake Matthew up. "Am I coming with you down to the police station again?" Matthew asked Sharon. Sharon didn't know what she was going to do with Matthew during the day as she didn't set up anything for him yet. That was probably going to be a discussion that her and Andy would need to have. "Yes, you are, is that okay?" Sharon said to him. "Yes, if Moxie can come too" Matthew pleaded to her. Him and that dog were inseparable. "Okay" Sharon said giving in to the kid.

They arrived at the station, all four of them and headed up to the office. Sharon was holding Matthew's hand as they walked in and Andy was holding the dog's leash. Matthew stopped to look at the badges on the wall before Sharon tugged his hand. He was mesmerized by all of the different pictures hanging on the walls on their way to the Murder Room.

They made their way into Sharon's office and Sharon dropped her bag down there. She glanced over at the table in her office and saw some crayons, coloring books, and other toys for Matthew to play with. She looked out of her window and saw Julio sitting at his desk. Sharon lead Matthew over to the table. "Matthew, you can stay here and color with these, okay?" she said to him. Matthew nodded and sat down at the table. They had an officer stay with Matthew in Sharon's office. Andy and Sharon both closed the doors to her office and headed out into the Murder Room. Andy stopped by his desk and picked up some files that were on it before following Sharon.

Sharon walked over to Julio. "Thank you" she said as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "No problem, ma'am" Julio sheepishly said back to her. Everyone gathered around the Murder Board and they started their day. They went over the facts of the case and what they still needed to find out. Sharon gave them all different orders and then walked back to her office. Provenza glanced over at Andy and gave him an inquisitive look. "So how did things go last night with the kid?" Provenza asked him. "Not bad, he did wake up in the middle of the night and came into our room, but I took him back to Rusty's room and he fell asleep" Andy started to tell him. Provenza knew that the Captain would get attached to the kid. It was hard not to given his story.

As Sharon entered her office, she saw Matthew was intensely coloring in one of the coloring books. She informed the officer that was in her office that they could take a break; she would watch the child while she was in there. She sat down at her desk and called Dr. Joe's office to see if he was available to come down and talk with Matthew. Dr. Joe was able to make a full recovery from his ordeal in the courthouse and started seeing patients again a few days ago. Rusty had told her this. Dr. Joe said he could stop by later on in the day to see Matthew.

A knock on her door brought her out of her concentration. "Come in" she said and Julio walked into her office and left the door open. "Ma'am, patrol found the two guys matching the description we sent out. They are bringing them both down here" Julio stated to her. Sharon glanced out of her side window to see Andy sitting at his desk. His head perked up when he overheard Julio tell Sharon about the two guys coming down here. He stood up and waited for Julio to leave before entering her office. He stood there looking at her as she sat down hunched back in her chair. Her eyes closed for a second before she focused on him standing there. "How's he doing in here?" he murmured to her as he walked closer to her. She stood up and glanced back at Matthew. He was coloring and talking to Moxie as Moxie just sat beside him. "Seems to be okay at the moment" she said as she squeezed his hand as a loving gesture. Sharon did not want Matthew to see the men patrol was bringing up so she quickly closed the blinds in her office. The police officer who was watching Matthew earlier came back into Sharon's office.

"Hey, Matthew, we need to speak with two people but it should not take us long okay" Andy stated to him. Matthew looked back at Andy. Andy smiled at the kid. "Can you stay here with this officer while Sharon and I go talk to them?" he asked him. Matthew nodded and went back to coloring. "Promise?" Andy whispered to him. "Yes" Matthew whispered back. Sharon watched the exchange between Andy and Matthew and was so moved by it. Andy had a way with little kids that was like magic. She saw it when he was with his step-grandkids and she was seeing it now with Matthew. They then both walked out of the office as patrol was bringing the two guys into the Murder Room. Julio and Amy told patrol where to take the individuals and Buzz went into electronics to set everything up.

The two individuals were both read their rights as they waited in two separate interview rooms. Julio and Amy were going to interview one of them while Provenza and Andy were going to interview the other one. Sharon, Buzz, and Mike looked onward at the screen that had Julio and Amy on it. "So, Jaime, want to tell us why you were behind the donation center on the corner of Lemoyne Street and Sunset Boulevard around midnight a couple of days ago?" Amy asked the person. His name was Jaime Rodriguez and he was known on the street as 'Junior'. Jaime just looked back at her and didn't say anything. Julio then slammed his hand against the table startling both Amy and Jaime. "Listen Junior! Why were you at the donation center! And why were you meeting with Rebecca Norris!" Julio shouted at him.

Sharon looked on as Julio shouted at Jaime. She had discussed Julio's anger several times in the past and thought that he had things under control. Meanwhile, Andy and Provenza were starting their interview of the second subject. His name was Enrico Fernandez, known on the street as 'Fast Eddie'. So, they were dealing with two members of the Echo Park Locos.

"Okay Enrico, do you want to tell us why you and your dirt bag friend were outside of the donation center on the corner of Lemoyne Street and Sunset Boulevard a couple of nights ago?" Andy asked him. Enrico didn't say anything; he just stared back at Andy and then looked down. "Hey! I'm talking to you here!" Andy yelled at Enrico and knew that he needed to keep calm with his blood pressure and everything else. He knew that Sharon was watching too which didn't bode well for him as she would speak to him regarding that probably later when they were alone. Provenza then started to speak to Enrico.

"Now you listen here Enrico, or should I call you 'Fast Eddie'. We want to know why you were meeting with Rebecca Norris that night behind the donation center" Provenza asked him. Enrico just kept looking straight ahead and didn't say anything. Provenza was getting frustrated and looked up at the cameras in the room. "We can hold you for 24 hours if we like, how would you like to sit in a cell with, let's say, a couple of members from the Head Hunters gang" Provenza sternly said to him. "You can't do that! We didn't do nothing!" Enrico shouted. "Look, we have you and your boy 'Junior' on surveillance video attacking Rebecca Norris. Now if you could tell us what happened and why, maybe we can cut you a deal" Andy gritted through his teeth and pointed his finger at him. Enrico looked at him. "What kind of deal?" he asked them. Andy looked at Provenza and leaned back in his chair. "The kind of deal that doesn't have the death penalty attached to it" Provenza stated back to him.

"So, he wants a deal" Sharon said to herself. "Mike, call Hobbs and have her come down here ASAP" Sharon said to him. "Got it" Mike stated as he left the room. "Buzz, tell Amy and Julio that Enrico here wants to make a deal" Sharon said to Buzz as she got up and headed out of the room. Sharon walked over to the interview room where Andy and Provenza were at and knocked on the door. Andy got up and opened the door. She gestured for the two men to follow her out. They closed the door behind them and walked to where Sharon was standing outside in the cubicles. "I've asked Mike to call Hobbs and have her come down here, meanwhile Buzz told Amy and Julio that Enrico here is the first one to the deal making process" Sharon stated to them. "Okay, so what's the plan?" Andy asked her. "Well, we are going to have to get Enrico a lawyer" Sharon answered and glanced over at her office to make sure Matthew was still there. "He never asked for one though" Provenza interjected. "I know that Lieutenant, but he needs one to make a deal" Sharon said to Provenza.

Provenza and Andy stepped back inside the interview room and sat down. "Okay Enrico, that was our boss, and she's worried about you" Andy said to Enrico. "Worried, man why would she be worried about me?" Enrico said in a smart alick tone. "Because dirt bag, she doesn't think you can make a deal on your own" Andy answered back. Enrico just sat there staring at Andy. "Okay, fine then I want a lawyer. They will help me make my deal" Enrico said as he sat back all smugly. "Good, do you have a lawyer?" Provenza asked him. Enrico thought about it at first. "No" he said to them. "Okay, not a problem, we will call one for you" Provenza said and then he got up from his chair. Andy followed him. "Now, don't you go anywhere" Andy pointed back at Enrico and walked out the door to join the rest of them.

Amy and Julio stepped out of the interview room with Jaime after telling him that he had his chance to make a deal, but the deal was now off the table. Jaime now sat in the interview room while Amy and Julio joined the rest of the team. They wanted Enrico to turn on Jaime, which was going to be part of the deal making process. "Okay everyone, since we are waiting on Hobbs and a lawyer for Enrico, do we need to find anything else to close this case?" Sharon asked her team in the Murder Room. "Yes, why was Rebecca Norris at that location in the first place?" Provenza asked out loud.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 4

As the rest of the squad looked around at each other, there was one question that has not been answered yet. Why was Rebecca Norris at that location in the first place? No one knew that answer, except for maybe her child. Sharon looked again at her office. Matthew was in there, but neither she nor Andy had the time to fully interview him regarding his mother's death. He was too scared yesterday when they found him and by the time they took him home, he was exhausted. "There is one person who can answer that question, Captain" Andy had said to her as he started to walk towards her office. Sharon followed him. This was a delicate situation regarding Matthew but they had to know why she went there in the first place.

Andy opened the door to her office and Sharon followed him in. They nodded to the officer, and the officer left. Moxie was laying on the couch and Matthew was still sitting at the table. "Hey Matthew" Andy started to say. Matthew turned around to look at the Lieutenant. "What did you draw?" Andy asked him. Matthew should him the picture of 2 big stick figures and 1 small stick figure. The 2 big figures wore police badges and the small stick figure held the leash of a dog. "It's us" Matthew said quietly as he handed the picture to Sharon who had come up next to Andy. "Oh, that's great Matthew" Sharon said to him. Sharon looked back over at Andy, hoping that he hadn't noticed her heart dropping when Matthew showed her the picture he drew.

"Why don't we go in that big room over there so we can talk about something, okay Matthew?" Sharon said as she pointed to the room across from them. Matthew agreed and he got out of the chair and headed to the door that lead into the conference room. Andy peaked his head out the side door of Sharon's office. "Hey Julio, could you maybe take Moxie outside, I think he has some business to take care of" Andy asked the detective. "Sure Lieutenant" Julio huffed and walked over to where the dog was. "Where's Moxie going Sharon?" Matthew asked. "Detective Julio is just taking him out for a break, he will be right back, I promise" Sharon soothingly said to him.

They all had a seat at the table in the conference room. Sharon sat next to Matthew and turned her chair so that she was facing him while Andy sat next to Matthew on his other side. "Um, Matthew, we haven't had a chance to talk about what happened to your mom a couple of nights ago" Sharon started to talk to the boy. He looked down at his hands and then back up at her. "My mom died" he said quietly. "I know sweetie and we are trying our best to put the bad guys who did that away so that they can't hurt you or anybody else" Sharon continued. Matthew looked down at his hands again. Sharon looked at Andy for some help. "You see kid, we need to know why your mom was at that donation center, and why you were there as well" Andy stated to him. Matthew turned around and looked at Andy. "My mom told me that she had to meet her friends there and that it wouldn't take long" Matthew started. "Did she say who her friends were?" Sharon asked. "No, just someone she knew from our old neighborhood" Matthew answered. "Did she say why she was meeting them?" Sharon pressed him. Matthew looked at Sharon for a minute and then shook his head no. "Why did she take you and Moxie with her?" Andy asked him. "Because Mrs. Hughes went home when my mom came home from work" Matthew said. Sharon and Andy looked at each other. "She watches me at night when my mom isn't home" Matthew concluded.

Sharon walked to the door of the conference room and asked Amy to come over to where they were. Amy walked over to the conference room. "I need you to find a Mrs. Hughes, she apparently babysat for our victim when she wasn't home" Sharon said quietly to Amy and Amy nodded. "Will do, Captain" Amy turned around and headed back to her desk. This case had too many angles already and now there is a new one. "Okay Matthew, I need you to concentrate really hard for me okay?" Andy asked him and he nodded. "Okay, we need to know if your mom mentioned anything to you about why she was meeting those friends of hers" Andy slowly said to him.

Matthew concentrated and thought about it for a long time. "She did tell me that at her job she was given bad snow and she needed to talk to her friends about it" Matthew innocently said to them. Both Sharon and Andy knew what the reference to snow was, cocaine. "Matthew, you did a fantastic job telling us that" Andy said to him as he knelt down by his chair. "You can go back to coloring or playing with those toys again in Sharon's office if you'd like" Andy further said to him. "Okay" Matthew said and got up from his chair and went back to the table he was at before. The officer was already waiting in Sharon's office when Matthew came in. Andy got up and looked back at Sharon. He shook his head. Matthew's mom was somehow caught up in cocaine dealing and the Echo Park Locos. Now Andy really started to feel bad for the kid.

Both Andy and Sharon made their way back to the Murder Board. Sharon shared the information that Matthew had just given them, which was also recorded on tape. "So this was a drug deal gone bad?" Provenza pondered. "The reports didn't state that they found any types of narcotics on the victim, ma'am" Julio stated as he read the reports again. "She was dealing, detective" Sharon said to Julio as she moved away from the board. "If she left Echo Park due to gang violence like the neighbors said she did, then why would she still be dealing for the Echo Park Locos three months later?" Sharon asked.

DDA Hobbs walked into the Murder Room and saw everyone standing by the Murder Board. "I understand you have a member of the Echo Park Locos wanting to make a deal?" she asked. "Yes, although I'm not sure if I want to make a deal just yet" Sharon contemplated. "Let's talk in your office" Andrea insisted as she started to walk towards it. "Uh, no Andrea, we can't go in there" Sharon said in a frantic voice. "Why not?" Andrea asked her. "Because our witness is in there, an 8 year old kid, son of our victim, although I'm not sure she is truly a victim" Andy grumbled back to Andrea. Sharon shook her head at Andy. "Let's talk in electronics, Andrea" Sharon insisted as she walked over there. Andrea followed her and gave Andy a look. "What's your problem, Flynn?" Provenza asked. "What?" Andy replies and sits back down at his desk. Provenza just shakes his head.

"We have a delicate situation here, Andrea. I have a potential witness to the crime we are investigating, but surveillance shows the child entering the scene after everyone left so I'm not entirely sure on that angle." Sharon started to say. "Next, I have two Echo Park Locos in my interview rooms and one of them is ready for a deal, we are just waiting on his court appointed lawyer" Sharon continued to say. "I have a Mrs. Hughes who is apparently a baby sitter for our victim" she added.

Andrea shifted in her chair. "And this victim was apparently dealing cocaine on the side" she finished and leaned her arm against the table in the room. A knock came on the door. "Come in" Sharon said. Amy opened the door. "I spoke with Mrs. Hughes, she did not know that the boy was missing or that Ms. Norris was even dead" Amy said to Sharon. "She stated that she just babysat for Matthew when Rebecca would call her up to run out for a bit. She never questioned her for what" Amy concluded. Sharon nodded. "Thank you Amy" she said and Amy walked out of the room.

Sharon leaned back in the chair she was sitting in. "Who is the kid staying with now?" Andrea asked her. "With myself and Andy. Cynthia arranged it as emergency foster care" Sharon said and knew the look that Andrea was giving her. "Are you sure that's a good idea, taking a young kid in again?" Andrea asked her as her friend. Sharon flashed a look of question. "The child has nowhere else to go and no one else to take care of him" Sharon firmly stated to her. Andrea threw her hands up as a sign of peace to Sharon.

Sharon and Andrea walked out of the electronics room to find everyone sitting at their desks. They were still waiting on the court appointed attorney for Enrico. Sharon wondered how long that was going to take. It was late afternoon when Provenza hung up his phone. "The attorney for our gang member has just arrived at the lobby and is heading up now" he said to everybody. "Good" Sharon said as she made her way towards her office. Matthew was now curled up on the couch sleeping.

Just then, Dr. Joe came walking in to the Murder Room. Everyone greeted him and said hi. He was glad to be back. Sharon came over to him, along with Andy and they shook his hand. "Dr. Joe, I'm glad you are back" Sharon stated to him. "Glad to be back, finally" Dr. Joe commented. Sharon showed Dr. Joe where Matthew was and what the scoop was on everything that they had discovered. Dr. Joe stepped in to Sharon's office and Sharon woke up Matthew. "Matthew, this is Dr. Joe. He is a friend of ours and he just wants to ask you some questions, okay?" Sharon said to the boy. "Okay" Matthew replied. The officer left. Sharon left Dr. Joe with Matthew and returned to the two gang members.

The court appointed lawyer made his way into the Murder Room. "Ah Captain, nice to see you again" Ahmed said to Sharon and shook her hand. "Ahmed, good to see you, if you'd come with me, I'll show you to your client" Sharon said and she walked with him to the interview room Enrico was currently in. She closed the door behind Ahmed and heading back to the Murder Board. "So, we need to know if Rebecca was dealing a bad dose of narcotics or what else could she have meant by bad snow." Sharon questioned her team. "I'll call Narcotics to see if anyone knows something about that" Julio stated as he picked up his phone. "Call Dr. Morales and see if he has seen any cocaine overdoses in the Morgue lately" Sharon told Andy. "Right away" Andy said and headed to his desk to make his call.

"You know this case would have been a whole lot easier if Robbery/Homicide would have just done their jobs" Provenza stated to Sharon. Sharon looked at him and shook her head. "Who knows what would have happened if they had kept this case, Lieutenant" Sharon sternly said back to him. Her mind was focused on Matthew at the moment and wondered how long Dr. Joe was going to be with him. "Captain?" Andy called her over to his desk. Sharon walked over to him. "Morales says that he's had two overdoses with a bad batch of coke in the last month, all from the Echo Park area" Andy repeated what the Doctor had told him as he hung up the phone. Sharon looked pissed. "Dammit" she muttered under her breath.

Just then, Dr. Joe opened up the door to Sharon's office. She peaked inside to see Matthew and wondered how he did speaking with the Doctor. Andy stood up. "How is he doing?" Sharon asked Dr. Joe. "Physically, he's fine. Mentally he's okay. I don't think he's truly grasped the stage of grief yet for his mother" Dr. Joe informed Sharon and Andy. "Did he have any difficulty last night when you took him home?" Dr. Joe asked the both of them. "He woke up in the middle of the night and said he had a bad dream, but didn't say what happened in that dream" Andy said as he rubbed his forehead with his right hand. "I took him back to Rusty's room where he was sleeping and stayed with him. He held my hand throughout the whole time. Almost afraid to let go" Andy finished saying to Dr. Joe.

"From what you are saying Lieutenant, I think he is afraid of being left alone. Abandonment or separation anxiety issues may come in to play here" Dr. Joe said to them. "Is there anything we can do for him, to help him?" Sharon asked Dr. Joe. Dr. Joe thought about that question and then proceeded to tell them what he thought would help the child out. "Talk to him about his mother. Let him tell you about her and let him grieve" Dr. Joe stated. "Captain, you helped Rusty get through his issues, it's going to be the same with Matthew" Dr. Joe said to Sharon and then he left.

Sharon looked at Andy and then in her office at Matthew and let out a deep breath. Yes, she was able to help Rusty with his issues, but he wasn't an 8 year old when he came to live with her. Besides, Matthew isn't technically living with them; it's just an emergency foster care situation. Cynthia was pretty clear on that when she told both Sharon and Andy last night. But, Sharon wasn't going to turn her back on this kid, and neither was Andy. They were both getting attached to him, even though they would not admit it to one another. Getting attached could bring problems at the end. Andy looked at Sharon, he was exhausted and he could only imagine she was as well. He knew that they would be having a discussion about Matthew's situation soon, but right now they just wanted to solve this case.

"Julio, does your friend in Narcotics say who could have supplied the bad batch of cocaine?" Sharon asked him. "No ma'am, they are not sure who supplies the cocaine for the Echo Park Locos" Julio answered her. "We need Enrico to confess, then we close the murder portion of the case and then hand the narcotics aspect of it over to them" Provenza sounded enthusiastically. "Nice try Lieutenant, but since this is our case now, I want us to solve it" Sharon looked over at Provenza. "Maybe Enrico can tell us who the supplier is?" Amy chimed in. Everyone turned around to look at her. At that point, Ahmed walked out of the interview room. "My client is ready" he said to the team.

Before Andy went with the rest of the team, he peaked his head into Sharon's office to see how Matthew was doing. He was back sleeping on the couch and Moxie was right next to him. The officer from before was now in Sharon's office keeping an eye on things. Andy walked back towards the interview room and met Sharon there. "Andy, I want you to come in with me" Sharon said as Andy nodded to her. The team was hoping that Enrico would give them the info that they needed and then they could also charge Jaime as well.

Andrea was sitting in the electronics room along with Mike, Provenza, Julio, and Buzz. Amy had gone to check on Jaime who was still waiting in the other interview room with two patrol officers guarding him. Sharon and Andy walked into the room with Enrico and his lawyer and both took a seat. "Okay Enrico, we are willing to make a deal, but first you need to answer some questions that we have" Andy said to him. Enrico looked at his lawyer, Ahmed nodded to him. "Okay" he said back to Andy and Sharon.

"What was Rebecca Norris doing behind the donation center five nights ago?" Sharon asked Enrico. "She wanted to meet with us to discuss something" Enrico was short with his answer. "What did you discuss with her?" Andy asked him. "Someone came up to her and accused her of dealing a bad batch of coke" Enrico started to say. "But why would she be meeting with two members of the Echo Park Locos gang?" Andy pressed on. "She was dealing for us. She needed the extra money because of her kid and we went way back man" Enrico said. "As you can see, my client is cooperating with you now, so what type of deal are we looking at?" Ahmed interjected. "Oh, we are not done here, not by a long shot" Sharon stated to the two men across from her. "We want to know why you and your buddy in the other room beat the crap out of Rebecca." Andy asked Enrico as he gritted his teeth. Enrico looked at them but didn't answer. "Why did you and Jaime beat Rebecca to death?!" Sharon asked Enrico in a louder voice.

"Because! She was going to go to the police and inform them of everything regarding the Echo Park Locos, we could not let that happen" Enrico confessed. "I started it, but Jaime was the one who kept pounding his fists into her body" he said. "Did you know that her little boy was waiting for her while you and your dirt bag friend were beating her up?" Andy was pissed and it showed. Sharon patted his arm to try and calm him down. "No man, we didn't see no kid there" Enrico said. "Okay Enrico, we are very close to making a deal, but first we want to know who your supplier of coke is?" Sharon said in a stern voice. "Okay, my client will tell you who their supplier is, if you take the death penalty off the table" Ahmed stated to them.

"I can charge him with voluntary manslaughter but I'd rather go with second degree murder" Andrea said out loud in electronics. "These two don't deserve a deal Hobbs" Julio said. "We need the information, which will lead to bigger fish" Andrea concluded and the team continued to watch.

"I'm sure DDA Hobbs can work out a deal for your client, Ahmed" Sharon said to them. Ahmed nodded to Enrico and Enrico started to talk. "The Dominguez brothers, they supply us with the coke" Enrico told them. "And where do we find them?" Sharon asked. "On the corner of Parmer and Morton" Enrico said in disgust. Sharon looked up at the camera in the room.

Provenza called SWAT and informed them that they needed back up at the corner of Parmer and Morton to take down a couple of drug suppliers. Meanwhile Amy, Julio, and Mike left electronics and headed to their desks to gather their things as they would be rolling out.

Andrea walked into the interview room. The DA's office was ready to make a deal with Enrico. Jaime would be arrested as well, and depending on what he told the DA, he would probably get a deal as well. Sharon and Andy walked out of the interview room back towards her office where she met with Provenza. He informed her that SWAT was going to meet them at the destination and that they would surround the place and take down the Dominguez brothers. "Be safe Lieutenant" Sharon said to Provenza as she looked over at Andy who was putting his bullet-proof vest on at his desk. She couldn't stop him from going as he had been cleared by his doctor. She walked over to him. Andy looked at Sharon. She was worried. She placed her hand on his chest. "I'll be safe, I promise" Andy whispered to her and kissed her cheek before he joined the rest of the team.

Sharon always hated that part since they had started dating, sending him out into the field not knowing what would happen. She knew Andy loved his job and wouldn't dare ask him to consider doing something else. She just wanted him to be safe. She had been heading out with her team lately but since Matthew was still in her office, she decided it was best for her to remain there. She headed into to her office. If they were going to stay as emergency foster care, they would need to set up something more permanent and send Matthew to school. They would also need to figure out where Moxie would go during the day while they were at work.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Thank you all for your kind words and reviews of this story so far! I do not know how long this story is going to be. But I will tell you that I am currently writing Chapter 8, so it will be at least 8 chapters if not more... I hope you all enjoy Chapter 5!

Chapter 5

The team had moved into position with SWAT officers. Provenza informed them that SWAT was going first and that they would follow. The Narcotics division also joined them. They were looking for the Dominguez brothers and the cocaine supply. Each team member had a picture of the brothers so they would know who they were looking for. Everyone was geared up and ready to go. The place they were going inside looked abandoned from the outside. "Hopefully this is the right place and Enrico wasn't playing us" Amy said to the team as they got into position. The door to the place was breached and the officers went inside with their guns drawn.

"LAPD, stop!" Julio stated as he rounded a corner in the house. Someone was running from them and Julio gave chase. The person didn't get too far in the house and Julio was able to grab them and place them in handcuffs. SWAT officers helped Julio pick the person up and they had a positive ID on one of the brothers. Mike and other SWAT officers headed towards the basement where they discovered the bricks of cocaine. "Holy crap!" Mike said as he looked at the stacks of bricks lining the walls. Andy and two SWAT officers headed upstairs to conduct their search. As they rounded the corner of the hallway, someone opened fire at them, spraying the hall with bullets. "Shots fired!" Andy yelled as he and SWAT ducked for cover and they fired back at the person. The shots stopped. "LAPD!" Andy yelled. Andy heard the person's gun jam and SWAT moved forward down the hall with Andy. They turned into the room and saw the other brother, trying to get his gun cleared but failed. SWAT surrounded the brother and he dropped his weapon. "Jesus Dominguez, you are under arrest" Andy said to him as he was trying to catch his breath. They placed him in handcuffs and SWAT lead him outside.

As soon as the area was cleared, Provenza had Buzz come into the house and started to film everything that was there. Provenza looked over to where Andy was at and walked over to him. He was leaning up against the wall. "Hey, everything okay?" he said as he looked him over. "Yep, I'm still here in one piece" Andy said back to his best friend. "Good, cause I don't want to have to deal with the Captain on my own" Provenza said back to him. Andy looked down at his vest to make sure no bullets had hit him upstairs. He found a bullet graze on his left side of his vest, no puncture though. Provenza saw it too and looked back at his friend. "I won't tell her if you don't" Andy said to him. Provenza shook his head. "Idiot" he mumbled and walked over to where Mike was at in the house.

Both Dominguez brothers were placed in squad cars and headed downtown where they were booked. Provenza informed the Captain that they had arrested the brothers and had found the supply of cocaine. They were transferring the cocaine over to the Narcotics division and they would be returning back shortly. "Was everyone safe, Lieutenant?" she asked over the phone. Provenza looked back at Andy. "Yes Captain, everyone was safe" he said to her. She let out a breath she had been holding since they left. "Good work, I'll see you when you return" Sharon said and hung up her phone.

Matthew was up and sitting across from Sharon at the moment. "What's going to happen to me?" he asked her. "Well, remember Cynthia from last night?" Sharon cleared her throat. He nodded 'yes'. "Well she placed you with Andy and myself in something called emergency foster care" she said and Matthew gave her a look like he didn't understand. "What does that mean?" he said. "Well, that means we are going to look after you for a period of time and make sure you are safe and taken care of" Sharon informed him. "So I get to stay with you? And Moxie gets to stay too?" Matthew inquired innocently. "Yes" Sharon said as she smiled at Matthew, who in turn smiled back. That was the first time Sharon had seen Matthew smile genuinely.

The team arrived back in the Murder Room and went to their respective desks to put their gear away. Sharon came out of the office to see everyone. "Good work, everybody!" she said and clasped her hands together. "Go home, we can do the paperwork tomorrow" she told them and then headed over to Andy's desk. He was leaning at his desk with his arms folded and was still wearing his bullet-proof vest. He knew he shouldn't hide the fact that a bullet had grazed his vest, but he did not want Sharon to worry about him. Sharon looked at him as she placed her hand on his arm, "Thank you for coming back to me in one piece" she said to him, as she touched his arm and smiled. Andy just looked at her and smiled as she walked back into her office to gather her things. Matthew was already packed up with his things and he was holding Moxie's leash. Andy stood up and took his vest off. He then examined where the bullet graze was at. Sharon walked up behind him and saw it. Her heart was in her throat as she saw the bullet graze on his vest. Andy turned around to see her. He knew he was in trouble for not telling her. "We'll talk later, let's go home now" she said to him and they walked out.

They had stopped on the way home to pick up some dinner for everyone and made their way inside the condo. Andy placed the food on the kitchen counter and Sharon had gotten some plates out. Matthew went to the table to sit down. Rusty was home already and he was hungry. Andy then fixed Moxie's dinner for him and the dog ate while they sat down to have dinner. Afterwards, Rusty took Matthew to the living room and they watched TV. Andy was getting ready to take the dog out when Sharon stopped him in the kitchen. She pulled him in for a hug. "Next time just tell me" she said, her voice muffled in his chest. Andy closed his eyes and buried his face in her hair. "I'm sorry, I didn't want you to worry again" Andy whispered. They held each other for a little while but then they were interrupted by the dog crying. "I better go take him out" Andy said. Sharon leaned back in and gave him a kiss. Andy then took Moxie out for a walk.

Sharon turned her attention to the boys as they were watching some cartoon on TV. "Okay Matthew it's time for bed" she said to him. Surprisingly Matthew didn't put up a fight and followed Sharon down the hall into Rusty's room. Sharon helped him pick out some pajamas from his bag and took him into their bathroom. "I'll be outside if you need me" Sharon said to Matthew and closed the door behind her. She wanted to help him change but thought that it might be awkward for him. Matthew changed his clothes and got ready for bed. Andy and the dog came back in and the dog went down to Rusty's room and jumped on the bed.

Andy walked over to where Rusty was at on the couch. The TV was off now. "How are things going with you?" Andy asked Rusty. "Fine" Rusty said back to him. Rusty adjusted his sitting position on the couch and turned towards Andy. "Hey, how long is Matthew going to be staying with us?" Rusty inquired to Andy. Andy looked back at him. "Um, I'm not really sure Rusty" he started to reply. "You of all people should know how the system works" he continued. Rusty shook his head. "Cynthia is looking into a couple of things regarding Matthew and we will see what happens" Andy concluded to him. Rusty nodded and went back to doing some homework.

Matthew was all ready for bed and walked into Rusty's room. "Moxie!" Matthew said to the dog and the dog was wagging his tail. Sharon followed Matthew into the room. Matthew gave him a hug and then climbed into bed. "Can you read me a story?" he asked Sharon. "Oh, okay" Sharon said to him. "What story would you like me to read to you?" she asked him. "My mom would read me this story when she was home" Matthew said as he leaned over the side of the bed and pulled out a book from his backpack. The book was _Paddington_. Sharon's kids loved that book growing up and she would read it to them when they were little. "Did your mom read to you often?" Sharon asked him cautiously. "When she wasn't busy with other things" Matthew handed the book to her. "Matthew, before I read this to you, I think you and I need to talk about a couple of things" Sharon said to him. "Like what?" Matthew looked at her innocently.

"Well, for one thing did your mom ever take you to a school?" Sharon inquired but was careful how she asked the question. "I went to a school but then my mom stopped taking me there" Matthew answered. "Okay, so what would you do when your mom went out for her job?" Sharon asked. "I would stay home and Mrs. Hughes would come over and watch me. Or I would sometimes go to a place where kids would play" Matthew answered quietly. Sharon didn't want to press too much. "Okay, Matthew. Well if you are going to be staying with us like we talked about, then you are going to go to school so you can learn about all sorts of new things" Sharon said to him optimistically. "Okay" Matthew said back to her as he settled in to the bed. "But what about Moxie?" Matthew asked her. "We will figure something out for Moxie to do while you are at school" Sharon answered as simple as she could. "Can you read me the story now?" Matthew asked. "Yes" Sharon said with a smile and began to read the story to him.

Sharon saw that Matthew was sleeping as she was reading to him so she closed the book and got up from the chair. She left the side lamp on and made her way out of the room, closing the door behind her. She went to look for Andy. He was sitting at the dining room table looking over the papers on their new house. He was meeting the home inspectors tomorrow morning and wanted to make sure he had everything in order. Sharon pulled up behind him and placed her arms around his shoulders. "Hmm, what are you doing?" she asked him. "Just making sure everything is good for tomorrow morning" Andy said back to her. "Is Matthew sleeping?" he asked her. "Yes" she replied as she made her way to the chair next to Andy and sat down on it.

"Andy, we need to discuss a couple of things regarding Matthew, and Moxie for that matter" Sharon said in a more serious voice. Andy looked up from the papers he held. "Like what?" he said. "Well, for starters he can't keep coming with us to the station every day" Sharon started to say to him. "Yes, I know. We need to find a school for him" Andy stated to her. "He said that his mom took him to a school in their neighborhood, but then she stopped taking him there" Sharon started to say to Andy as she grabbed his free hand and held it. He could tell that she had been emotional from the beginning of this case. He wasn't going to ask her, as he knew eventually she would tell him. "Would Cynthia determine what school he went to?" he asked her. She shook her head no. He pulled out his phone and started looking at schools in the area. "What are you doing?" Sharon asked him. "Just seeing what grade schools are in the area" he said as he continued to scroll a list on his phone. She smiled at him. He looked up at her. "What?" he said. "Nothing" she said back to him and shook her head.

"Okay, what else do you want to talk about?" Andy asked as he was now holding her hand in his. "He's going to need a physical from one of the doctors at DCFS" Sharon said to Andy. "No problem, I can take him over there tomorrow before the home inspection appointment" Andy said to her. He looked up at her with a questionable look on his face. "What is it?" she asked him. "Well, who's going to watch Moxie while I take Matthew to the doctor?" Andy said to her. "It's not like I can just leave the dog in the car while we go in, people frown on that you know" he said sheepishly to her. "Oh no, I am not taking the dog with me to the office, mister" Sharon said to him as she poked his arm. "Okay, okay" Andy chuckled and held his hands up like he was surrendering. "Maybe Rusty can watch him for an hour since he doesn't have class tomorrow" he said to her with a shrug.

"Speaking of the dog, do you think we should probably take Moxie to the vet to have him checked out as well?" Sharon asked Andy as she fiddled around with the papers in front of her. "Huh, you are probably right, the dog will need a check up to make sure he is all good with his vaccinations" Andy said to her as he watched her play with the papers like she was nervous about something. "Everything okay, Sharon?" he looked at her and she nodded back to him. "Uh huh" she said quietly. "I'll ask Nicole if she knows of any vets in the area that are good and we will set up an appointment as soon as possible" Andy said to her.

"Separation anxiety and abandonment issues are going to be tough for Matthew" Sharon said quietly to Andy. "You helped Rusty get through that" Andy said back to her. "Rusty dealt with abandonment issues but he was a lot older than Matthew is" Sharon said. "So, we will work on that with him" Andy quietly said to her. "He will open up Sharon, he just needs time to process everything" Andy as he held her hand in his. "Did Cynthia get back to you about any news yet on any possible family members?" Andy stated to Sharon. "No" Sharon said. She knew the possibility of a family member showing up out of the blue. It happened before, with Rusty and more recently with Julio and Mark. Andy just wanted her to be prepared in that case. He knew her heart was getting attached to Matthew, even though she didn't want it to.

"Now on to more pressing matters" Sharon looked at Andy as he looked back up at her. He seemed to giving the look of a deer stuck in the headlights of a car. Andy adjusted in his seat, he knew he shouldn't have kept the bullet graze to himself and this was the reason why. "Andy, the next time you get shot" she started to say. "I didn't get shot" Andy interrupted her. She gave him her classic Darth Raydor look and he stopped talking to let her finish. He knew he was on the losing end of this conversation. He accepted defeat and listened to her continue. "I would like to know right away. I don't want us keeping secrets from each other. Remember our conversation last week?" she said quietly to him. He nodded his head in the affirmative. He remembered it, in fact, he was the one telling her to trust him back then when she kept having nightmares. "I'm sorry, Sharon" he quietly said to her as he caressed her hand in his. He stood up from his chair and he pulled her up too into a warm embrace. He bent his head down and gave her a kiss on her lips. Sharon deepened the kiss and he placed his hands on her back.

They heard Rusty clear his voice, interrupting them. They both pulled away from each other, catching their breaths. "Sorry for interrupting, I just wanted to get something to drink here" Rusty stammered on as he made his way to the refrigerator. Both Andy and Sharon didn't say one word. Sharon blushed a little bit and Andy smiled. As Rusty made his way through the kitchen with his drink, he lifted his hand and said to them, "Carry on". Sharon laughed as Andy pulled her in his embrace. "Come on, it's late" he whispered to her and then led her down the hallway to their bedroom. Sharon quickly peaked her head in Rusty's room and saw Matthew and the dog both sleeping. She closed the door and met Andy in their room closing that door behind her.

"I'm going to take a quick shower, care to join me?" Andy said to her as she came into the bedroom. He was standing in the doorway of the bathroom, his shirt off already. Sharon smiled and nodded to Andy as she met him in the doorway and he pulled her into the bathroom with him, closing the door behind them. He made sure that both doors were locked as he did not want to be interrupted with Sharon again. He slowly undressed her and she removed what remaining clothes he had on. Andy turned the shower on and got the temperature of the water to both of their liking and then stepped in. Sharon followed him. He held her close to him under the spray of the shower nozzle, letting the water beat down on his aching back.

All of a sudden, Sharon's emotions came at her full force. She was overwhelmed. Sharon broke down and started to cry while being held by Andy. She was crying for Matthew and she was also crying for Andy with another close call for him. Andy just held her in his arms. He knew why she was crying and he soothingly rubbed her back up and down while repeatedly whispering "It's okay" to her. He kissed away her tears in the shower and after washing both of them, he rinsed their bodies off and helped Sharon out of the shower.

She was getting goosebumps on her skin from the cooler air and he quickly wrapped her in a towel, doing the same for himself. They dried each other off and got dressed for bed. "I think it might be too late" Sharon said barely audible to Andy as they climbed into bed. Andy laid on his back and pulled her close to him. Andy knew what she meant and was glad she was finally admitting it to herself and to him. He rubbed her back again through his cotton t-shirt she wore. "I'm already getting attached to him" she concluded. "Shh, I know sweetheart, I know" Andy whispered to her and kissed the top of her head. "I am too" he whispered. She closed her eyes and cried. Andy just held her close to him. They would figure it out together.

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Thank you again for the reviews! Keep them coming! Also, I wanted to let you all know that I just finished this story, so there will be two more chapters after this one. I hope you all are enjoying it so far.

Chapter 6

The next morning, Andy felt someone lightly tapping him on his shoulder. He opened his eyes expecting it to be Sharon when he sees Matthew at the side of their bed. He glanced over at Sharon who is fast asleep, then turns his attention to the little boy. "What's the matter?" he quietly says to Matthew. "I had another bad dream" Matthew whispered to Andy. Andy sat up trying not to wake Sharon. "Okay, come on" he said to Matthew as he got out of bed. He put his green robe on and took Matthew by the hand back to Rusty's room. He was surprised Moxie didn't follow him this time as he saw the dog sleeping on the bed. Matthew settled back in to the bed and Andy sat in the chair. Just like the night before, Matthew took Andy's hand in his little hand and fell asleep. Andy leaned his head on the back of the chair and closed his eyes.

Sharon woke up later that morning to an empty bed. She looked around to see if Andy had given any signs as to where he could have gone. She saw his green robe was missing from the back of the chair as she got up before her alarm had gone off. She made her way across the hall, there was silence throughout the condo. She opened the door to Rusty's room just slightly and glanced in. She saw Andy sitting next to Matthew again, both out sleeping. For the second night in a row, Andy's back was going to be protesting later on. Sharon went inside the room quietly and walked over to the two sleeping. Andy heard someone walking towards them and he opened his eyes. "Hi" he said quietly. "Hello" Sharon said back to him in just above a whisper.

"How long have you been in here?" Sharon asked Andy as she glanced at Matthew who was still sleeping. "Couple of hours" he said as he shrugged his shoulders. "You look exhausted Andy" she whispered to him as she held her hand out for him to take. "I'm fine, just maybe my back will be hurting later" Andy said back to her as he began to stand up. "Why didn't you wake me?" Sharon asked. "You were sleeping and besides, you are the one going into work today" Andy answered Sharon quietly. Sharon nodded. The both moved quietly out of the room and into the hallway. They noticed that Moxie had followed them out of the room. Andy glanced at his watch. 6:15 it said. The dog had followed Sharon into their bedroom and jumped on their bed. "Hey, you are not supposed to be up there" Sharon said in a hushed voice. Andy just chuckled to himself. He was going to take Matthew to the doctor for a check up to satisfy DCFS at 8 this morning, and then he was meeting the home inspectors at 9:30 at their new place. He couldn't wait to move into the new house with Sharon as things were getting a little tight around the condo lately.

"Moxie, get off the bed" Andy said to the dog and the dog obeyed him as Andy walked in to their room and closed the door behind him. Moxie laid down on the floor next to the closet. "He likes you Sharon" Andy said to her as he gathered some clothes for him to wear today. Sharon was currently in their closet choosing something to wear in to the office. "Well, I do have a knack for hard luck cases" Sharon said back to Andy from the closet. Andy stopped and thought about what she had said to him. "Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Andy said to her quietly as he made his way towards the closet. Sharon was getting dressed as he peaked his head inside. "Nothing more than I love you" Sharon said as she walked up to him and patted him on his cheek. Andy grabbed her hand and pulled her into him. "Keep an eye out Moxie!" he said to the dog as the dog looked at him. Andy kissed Sharon passionately in their closet.

When they pulled apart to catch their breaths, Sharon looked at Andy. "I can't wait to move to our new home" Andy said in a rasped voice. He walked away from her, leaving her speechless as he got dressed. She finished getting herself ready and then went to go wake Matthew up. Moxie followed her out of their room and into the room with Matthew. Sharon gently woke Matthew up. Matthew was a little groggy and called Sharon 'mom' by mistake when he woke up. He looked nervous when he had said that. Sharon dismissed it like she didn't hear it because she wanted Matthew to feel comfortable. "Matthew, time to get up and get dressed" she said to him as he got out of bed himself. "Am I going to work with you again today?" Matthew inquired as he walked around the room. "No, you are going with Andy as he needs to do some errands this morning" she said simply. "In order to go to school, Matthew, Andy is going to take you to the doctor to get a checkup, okay?" Sharon said to him.

"The doctor?" Matthew said suddenly stunned. "I'm not going to get a shot, am I?" Matthew inquired to Sharon as Sharon led him down the hall to the bathroom. "No, now let's get dressed and ready, okay?" she said quietly to him. While Sharon was getting Matthew ready, Andy took the dog outside. When he came back up with the dog, Sharon, Matthew, and Rusty were all in the kitchen having breakfast. Andy fed the dog and the dog ate while Andy joined them at the table. "Oh, uh Rusty? I was wondering if you could do me a favor." Andy had asked Rusty as they ate. "What's the favor?" Rusty asked. "Can you watch Moxie for an hour while I take Matthew to the doctor?" Andy asked him. Rusty looked back at the dog as he was eating. He was going to spend the morning at the library since he did not have classes today but he supposed he could postpone his leaving for an hour. "Uh, sure, I guess" Rusty hesitantly answered. Sharon looked at him and wondered what was bothering Rusty. Rusty looked back at Sharon as he continued to eat his breakfast.

Sharon grabbed her purse and bag by the door as Andy stood next to her. "Now, please behave with the rest of the children" Sharon said to Andy as she gave him a smile. "Of course" Andy smiled back at her. "Could you let me know how the doctor goes with him?" Sharon looked at him and she held his gaze. "I will" he said as he leaned into her and kissed her lips. "I left the form on the table for the doctor to fill out" she told him before she forgot. "Okay" he said as he held her close. "I'll miss you" she whispered to him as she leaned in for a kiss this time. "Hmm, I'll miss you too" he answered her. "Goodbye Rusty! Goodbye Matthew!" Sharon said to the boys.

Matthew came running around the corner to see Sharon. "Goodbye" Matthew said to Sharon as he gave her a big hug. Sharon closed her eyes as she hugged him back. "Be good for Andy" she said to him. "I will" Matthew said to her and then went back to playing with Moxie. Andy looked at the two of them. Sharon had confessed that she was getting attached to Matthew last night to him and that she didn't want her heart to break if Cynthia had found a living relative. That's why she was being so careful when they had agreed to provide emergency foster care. When Andy saw Sharon hug Matthew this morning, he knew that she was opening up to him and letting her heart come out. Sharon wiped a tear with her finger, hoping Andy didn't see but Andy saw right through her and saw the tear. "Be safe" Andy said as he gave her a hug. She then left to go in to work.

Andy turned around after he had closed the door and headed back into the living room. "Ok Rusty, we will not be gone long at this doctor's appointment hopefully" Andy said to Rusty who was sitting in a chair. "Okay, no problem" Rusty said as he was reading one of his books. Andy looked at Rusty and shrugged. He thought he detected a faint jealousy coming from Rusty. He would have to let Sharon know about that later on to see if she saw the same thing. "Alright Matthew, are you ready?" Andy said to Matthew as he walked to where he was playing with Moxie. "I want Moxie to come with" Matthew said. "No, Matthew. Moxie is going to stay here with Rusty and then we will come back for Moxie before we go to the new house" Andy explained to Matthew as he directed him to the front door. "Thanks Rusty!" Andy said as he closed the door behind them and headed down to his car.

Sharon arrived at the office and everyone was at their desks. "Good morning Captain!" Amy said to Sharon as she walked by her desk. "Morning Amy" Sharon said back. "Lieutenant Provenza, could I see you in my office for a moment" Sharon said to Provenza who was sitting at his desk. Provenza then stood up. "Yes Captain" he said to her and then followed her into her office. She closed the door behind them and proceeded to sit behind her desk. "So, I would like to know if anything happened at yesterday's operation that would warrant my attention" Sharon started to say to him. Provenza looked at her. "Uh, no Captain, nothing at all" Provenza hesitated at first but then said that to her. "Huh, because I oversaw something that made me breathless" Sharon said.

Provenza was waiting for the Darth Raydor, or Flynn now, to come out. "Captain, he was fine" Provenza started to say but Sharon interrupted him. "Oh, but he was just fine when he was thrown from a car. And then he was fine when the blood clot moved positions. Oh, and he was just fine when he collapsed a little over a month ago right outside my office" Sharon informed Provenza. "When it comes to Andy's health and safety, I want to know Lieutenant, got it?!" Sharon looked at him. Provenza looked at the ground. "Yes Captain" he said defeated. He then left her office and went back to his desk. If he got scolded by the Captain just now, he wondered how bad Andy took it from Sharon. He would text him later and ask.

Andy drove Matthew over to the doctor's office. While he was driving, Matthew asked him a question. "Are you and Sharon married?" Andy at him in the rear view mirror while they were stopped at a red light. "Yes, we got married a couple of weeks ago" Andy answered him. "What should I call you?" Matthew inquired. Andy started to drive and they were almost at the doctor designated by DCFS. "Oh, uh what would you like to call us?" Andy had asked him. "Um, I don't know" Matthew said kind of sheepish. "I'll tell you what. Why don't you call me Andy and you can call Sharon by her name too" Andy said. "How about that?" he concluded. "Okay" Matthew said as he looked out the window.

Andy pulled up to the building and turned in the designated parking lot. He parked his car and then proceed to get Matthew out of the car. Matthew unbuckled his belt and jumped out of the car. He then held on to Andy's hand as they walked inside the parking garage towards the elevators. They arrived at the doctor's office and Andy handed the form to the nurse at the desk. Sharon had filled the paperwork out prior to going in to work today. Andy had to show his ID to the nurse and then him and Matthew found a seat and waited to be called. A nice nurse came out of the office and called Matthew's name. "Matthew Gomez" the nurse said. Andy and Matthew stood up and followed the nurse in to an exam room. The nurse proceeded to check Matthew's weight, height, and blood pressure. She also took his temperature. Everything was within normal range for a child his age. "The doctor will be in shortly" the nurse said to them and she left the room.

Matthew looked scared as he sat up on the exam table waiting. Andy sat on the chair next to him on the table. "Everything okay, Matthew?" he asked him. Matthew just nodded. Andy patted him on his knee. "You are going to be fine" he said to Matthew. "Want me to tell you something?" Andy said quietly to Matthew. Matthew nodded to him. "I don't like going to the doctors either" Andy confessed to Matthew and that eased his anxiety. Just then, the doctor walked in to the room. "Hello Matthew, I'm Doctor Lancaster but you can call me Doctor Tim" the doctor said to Matthew as he shook Matthew's hand. Andy stood up and also shook the doctor's hand. "Hi, Lieutenant Flynn" Andy said to him.

"Nice to meet you" Doctor Tim said to Andy. "Well, Matthew, I have looked over the paperwork that was sent over before you arrived here this morning and I have some good news" Doctor Tim said as he pulled up his stool across from where Matthew was sitting on the exam table. Matthew was a little shy when the doctor sat down. He looked over at Andy. "Hey Doctor Tim, Matthew is a little nervous about, you know, getting a shot" Andy said to Doctor Tim. "Ah, I see" Doctor Tim said as he took out his stethoscope to listen to Matthew's heart. "Take a deep breath for me" Doctor Tim told Matthew and he did. "Good, now open your mouth" Doctor Tim looked at Matthew's throat. "Looking good, Matthew" Doctor Tim said as he wrote some notes down on the chart. Andy smiled at Matthew as Matthew just sat there.

"Well, Matthew don't you worry today because you don't need any shots" Doctor Tim told Matthew and Andy as well. Matthew smiled. "That's the good news I was referring to when I walked in the room" Doctor Tim said. "Are you going to be attending a new school?" Doctor Tim asked Matthew as he checked his reflexes. Matthew just shrugged his shoulders. Andy then spoke up. "We are looking into getting him into a new school, my wife and the case worker are trying to arrange that" Andy said to the doctor. "Well, that's great. So Matthew what do you like to do?" Doctor Tim asked Matthew. "I like to play with my dog" Matthew said. "Dogs are a lot of fun, aren't they?" Doctor Tim said as he stood up. "Well, Matthew, you are all set here. And for being such a brave boy this morning, you can have a Lolli-pop, if that's okay with the Lieutenant here" Doctor Tim handed Matthew the basket of Lolli-pops they had for the children. Andy nodded his head to Matthew and Matthew picked out a green one.

"If you need a pediatrician for Matthew, as I don't know what your foster care situation is, I'd be happy to be his doctor" Doctor Tim said to Andy as he handed his card to him. "Thanks Doctor" Andy said as the doctor left the room. "Alright Matthew, are you ready to leave?" Andy asked Matthew who was super happy now. "Yes" Matthew said and held on to Andy's hand as they walked to the waiting area. Andy stopped at the window of the office. "Are we all set here?" Andy asked the receptionist. "Yes, you are all good" she said back to him. "Thank you" Andy said and both of them left the office and headed back to the car. Matthew got in the back seat of Andy's car and before Andy got in to the driver's seat, he texted Sharon to let her know how the doctor's appointment went. 'All done at the doc's. Matthew didn't need shot. He was happy. Handed paperwork in. Now heading home to pick up dog and then going to new house, love you' was the text that Andy sent Sharon. Andy got in the car and started driving back to the condo.

Back at the Murder Room, Sharon was sitting in her office looking at some paperwork Cynthia had dropped off two days ago. She was reading the area for school information when her phone alerted to a text message. She glanced at her phone and saw the message from Andy. She smiled to herself when she read it but then paused at the line that said 'heading home to pick up dog and then going to new house'. "He's bringing the dog over there?" she said to herself as she shook her head. She was happy that everything went well with Matthew at the doctor's office. One less thing to worry about with that. Now, Cynthia would get the report from them and they could start placing him in a school. They just had to figure out which school. 'Good to hear about Matthew at doctor. Watch the dog at the new house. Good luck. Love you too' Sharon texted back to Andy's phone.

Just then there was a knock on her office door. "Come in" Sharon said to the person on the other side of the door. The door opened and Cynthia walked in. "Hello Captain, I hope I'm not interrupting" Cynthia said to her. "No, not at all, please come in, sit down" Sharon said in a somewhat cheerful voice. "How are things with Matthew?" Cynthia asked her. "They are going well so far. Andy took him to the DCFS doctors and he got a checkup this morning, so we could start looking at an acceptable school for him" Sharon started to say to her. "That's what I wanted to speak to you about" Cynthia said, not wanting to cut off Sharon. Sharon looked back at Cynthia. "Is there a problem?" Sharon cautiously asked her.

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Hello everyone! Thank you again for the reviews, I enjoy reading them as much as you all enjoy reading my stories. Here is Chapter 7, enjoy!

Chapter 7

Andy and Matthew arrived back at the condo and Matthew ran to Moxie as soon as Andy had opened the front door. Andy then made his way into the condo and saw Rusty sitting on the couch. "Hey, did everything go okay watching Moxie?" Andy asked him as he walked into the kitchen area. Rusty followed Andy into the kitchen. "Yes, I even took him for a short walk around the block" Rusty answered. "Great, thanks" Andy said to him as he looked at his phone. Andy saw that he had received a text message from his daughter regarding a good veterinarian to take Moxie to. 'Did you and Sharon adopt a dog together? Here is a great place: Veterinary Care Center on Santa Monica Blvd in Hollywood' the message said. The only one who knew about Matthew and their emergency foster care was Rusty. Sharon and Andy did not have the time yet to tell the rest of their families. Hopefully, Rusty didn't tell them either. Andy supposed he should let Nicole know about Matthew, but he was hoping that he and Sharon could do it together.

Andy called up the veterinary office to see if they had any appointments available later today and they did. Andy made an initial appointment for Moxie and explained their situation over the phone to the veterinary technician. She told him what they needed to bring with and Andy wrote it down so he would remember. "Okay, two things off the list" he said to himself. He made his way towards the living room and saw Matthew and Moxie playing with one of Moxie's toys. "Okay Matthew, you and Moxie are going to come with me to the new house" Andy said to Matthew. Matthew looked up and was confused about this new house. Andy saw his confusion. "Sharon and I bought a big house and we will be moving sometime next week" Andy started to say. "Or sooner, hopefully" Rusty interrupted. "What would happen to me and Moxie then?" Matthew asked Andy. "Hopefully you and Moxie will be coming with us" Andy said to him as he placed his arm around his shoulder.

Andy found Moxie's leash and they were ready to go over to the new house. Rusty followed them out the door. "Where are you off to?" Andy inquired to Rusty. "Oh, I'm heading to the library and then over to Gus's place" Rusty answered him. "Bye" they each told one another and got into their cars and drove off.

Meanwhile, back at the Murder Room, Sharon and Cynthia were having a discussion about Matthew. Sharon looked back at Cynthia. "Is there a problem?" Sharon cautiously asked her. "Well, there are some concerns. He's not like Rusty, Sharon. This is a young and vulnerable child" Cynthia started to say. "We know that. Andy and I are very concerned about Matthew's well-being and are trying very hard to help him through these difficult parts" Sharon said to her. "When are you moving to your new house? You do know that I am going to have to stop by there to make sure everything is okay, right?" Cynthia asked her. "Yes, of course. We are moving sometime next week, if not sooner" Sharon added. "Also, he needs to be enrolled in school by tomorrow. And both of you work late hours sometimes, you need to make sure he is taken care of" Cynthia added. Cynthia looked back at her and Sharon looked like she had hurt feelings. "Sharon, I am just trying to make sure Matthew's best interests are considered here. After all, that is my job" Cynthia stated to her. Sharon nodded. "Have you found any family members for Matthew, yet?" Sharon hated to know the answer to that question but she had to ask it.

Cynthia shook her head. "No, but that doesn't mean someone won't pop up down the road from now. I just want you to know that" Cynthia told her as she stood up from the chair. "I'm sure whatever school you and the Lieutenant choose is going to be a good fit for him. And, there are not too many people who would take a kid and a dog in together, so thank you for that" Cynthia added. "Have a good day Captain, we will be in touch" Cynthia said as she left Sharon's office. Sharon took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She leaned back in her chair. "Okay, that went somewhat well" she said to herself. She wanted to let Andy know about her visit with Cynthia but it could wait for now. They also needed to discuss telling their kids about Matthew and his situation.

Andy, Matthew, and Moxie arrived at the new house. They met Michael, their realtor, in front of the house. Andy shook his hand. "Lieutenant, nice to see you again. Who is this?" Michael said as he asked Andy. "Oh, this is Matthew and his dog Moxie. Sharon and I are taking care of them right now" Andy tried explaining to Michael as he really didn't want to give away too much. "Okay, well as you know the previous owners already moved out so as long as the home inspectors give their okay, you guys can move in as soon as you would like to" Michael said to Andy as they made their way into the new house. Andy kept Moxie on his leash as he was sniffing around the new area. He was mindful about what Sharon said in her text to him earlier. Matthew started to run through the house to look out the back windows. "Matthew, no running please" Andy yelled at the boy. Matthew slowed down as he heard Andy and walked towards the back of the house. Moxie wanting to run after the boy but stayed with Andy instead.

Matthew made his way up to the windows that overlooked the big backyard and his mouth dropped. He'd never seen such a big yard before and was excited. Andy and Moxie made their way to the back where Matthew was at. "This is a big yard!" Matthew said to Andy. "How about you come in the kitchen and sit at the stool by the counter and play there" Andy suggested to Matthew as he brought his backpack with him. "Okay" Matthew said as he followed Andy back in to the kitchen and sat down at the island. Moxie laid down next to Matthew as Andy and Michael waited for the home inspectors to come. Andy looked over at Matthew who was busy coloring in his book. 'Were he and Sharon crazy for taking in an eight year old boy and his dog?' he thought to himself. Just then, the home inspectors came into the house and started to check everything out.

Meanwhile back at the office, everyone started to hand in their reports to Sharon. Provenza was the last one to drop his off to her. He sat down across from her desk and waited. She looked up at him and wondered what he was doing. "Yes, Lieutenant, can I help you?" Sharon asked him. "Do you think this is a good idea?" Provenza said to her. "Is what a good idea, Lieutenant?" Sharon inquired back to him. "You and Andy taking in the young boy and his dog. I mean, let's face it, we are all getting up there in age and after Andy's health scare, should he really be chasing after a kid?" Provenza said and then realized that he was overstepping his grounds. Sharon looked at him surprisingly, after all her and Andy have been through over these years, she would think that they would have his support. "I think that decision is between me and Andy, Lieutenant, but thank you for your concern." Sharon sassed back at Provenza. Provenza knew that he was in trouble after saying that so he got up and left her office. "I apologize, Captain" Provenza said to Sharon and then closed her door behind him.

'How are things over by you? Had interesting discussion with Cynthia and your partner just now. Almost done here with paperwork, could meet you at new house? Miss you' Sharon texted to Andy. Andy looked at his phone when he received her text and smiled. 'Inspectors are here. Matthew is coloring. What did Cynthia and my idiot partner say to you? Come on over if you finish early, we will be here for another hour or so. I love you' Andy texted back to Sharon and then placed his phone in his pocket. One of the home inspectors called Andy over to look at something in the first floor powder room. "Matthew, I will just be down the hall, okay?" he said to Matthew as he was walking to the powder room. "Okay!" Matthew said back to him as he continued to color. Andy looked at what the home inspector found. "You need a GFCI outlet here because it is close to the sink, every other bathroom in the house has one except for this one" the home inspector told Andy. "Okay, just make a note of it" Andy said and returned back to where Matthew was.

When Andy got back in the kitchen, Matthew wasn't there. "Matthew?" He looked around and a panic started to form. He finally saw Matthew and Moxie outside in the backyard. Andy ran out there. He was about to say something but just stood out there until Matthew turned around. "Hi" Andy said to him. Matthew waved to Andy. "Moxie had to go potty and I didn't want him to have an accident in your new house" Matthew innocently said back to Andy. "Okay, just next time let me know where you are going, before you do it" Andy said to the kid and ruffled up his hair. Matthew nodded his head and then they went back inside the house.

Sharon had complied all of the paperwork and placed it in a manila folder. She then filed it away in one of her filing cabinets. It was getting close to lunch time. Amy knocked on Sharon's door and then entered when she heard the captain answer. "Sorry to bother you Captain. We are going to order lunch and wanted to know if you wanted anything?" Amy asked her. "Thank you Amy, but I will pass on lunch. Could you send Lieutenant Provenza in here?" Sharon said to her. Amy nodded and walked out over to where Provenza was sitting, working on his crossword puzzle. She leaned over to him. "The Captain wants to see you" she whispered to him. He looked up and across towards the Captain's office. He let out a deep sigh and then proceeded over to where Sharon was at.

He walked into her office and closed the door behind him. He was waiting for her to yell at him for something else. "Lieutenant, I just wanted to let you know that I will be leaving the office soon for the rest of the day. You will be in charge then" Sharon said in a pleasing tone. Provenza was shocked. Things didn't go so well the last time he was in here and he thought she would want to discuss that. "Okay, Captain" he said to her and he looked confused as he sat there. Sharon looked back at him and wondered what was wrong. "Something wrong Lieutenant?" she asked. Provenza shook his head. "No Captain, uh I just wanted to apologize for what I said earlier, I overstepped my bounds and I'm sorry" Provenza added as he stood up. "Not a problem, Lieutenant. Oh, and if something does come up, please call me" Sharon said back to him and then he left her office. Sharon gathered her things and she too left for the day.

Sharon got in her car in the parking garage and before she left, she texted Andy. 'Leaving work now. Do you want me to stop for lunch?' was the text that Andy received on his phone from Sharon. Andy walked over to where Matthew was sitting back at the island. "Sharon is on her way over here now, did you want some lunch?" Andy asked him. Matthew kept coloring in his book and then looked back at Andy. "Um, yes!" the boy exclaimed. "Okay, Sharon is going to stop and get lunch, and then bring it over here" Andy said to him. "Like a picnic?" Matthew said back to Andy. "Yes, buddy, like a picnic" Andy said and then texted Sharon back. 'Sounds good' was what he wrote to her. Just then, his phone rang and it was Sharon calling him.

"Hey" Andy answered his phone. "Hi, I was thinking about getting sandwiches at that sandwich place on the corner of Santa Monica and Vermont" Sharon told him as she was now driving but using her hands free Bluetooth option on her phone. Andy moved to another room, but he was still able to watch Matthew. "That sounds good, you know what I like from there" Andy said. "Yes, I do. What does Matthew want?" she asked. "Oh, um, just get him the kid's meal from there" he said to her. "Is everything okay over there" Sharon asked him before hanging up. "Yes, everything is fine" Andy chuckled at Sharon. "Okay, I will see you soon" Sharon said. "Yeh, okay see you in a bit" Andy said and then hung up his phone.

Andy walked back in the kitchen and sat down next to Matthew. Moxie got up and walked over to where Andy was. Andy started petting him as he sat next to Andy. The home inspectors were finished and Michael handed the report over to Andy. The house was in excellent shape and there were only a few minor things that needed to be changed. Andy was pleased with the report and shook the inspectors' hands. "Thanks for coming out here" Andy said to the both of them as he walked them to the front door. The inspectors left the house and Andy stood in the foyer. He couldn't believe that this was his and Sharon's house, finally. He felt like celebrating! Michael also left the house so it was just him, Matthew, and Moxie. He looked at his watch to make sure they would have enough time to get to Moxie's vet appointment.

Matthew walked over to where Andy was standing by the stairs to go up to the bedrooms. "Um, Andy?" Matthew said kind of sheepish. "What is it?" Andy said to him as he bent down to his level. "Can I go upstairs and look around?" Matthew asked him. "Sure, I can go up there with you" Andy said and all three of them made their way upstairs. Andy walked with Matthew to one of the bedrooms and as Matthew stepped inside one of them, he turned around to look at Andy. "Would this be my bedroom, if I got to stay with you and Sharon?" Matthew asked innocently enough. Andy was speechless. "Yes, this could be your room" Andy said to the kid. Matthew had the biggest smile on his face. Just then, Andy heard a car pull into the driveway. He peeked out one of the windows upstairs and saw it was Sharon.

"Lunch time Matthew" he said to the boy as he came down the stairs. Matthew and Moxie both followed Andy and stopped when the door opened. Sharon came in with a bag of food. Andy greeted her with a kiss. Matthew didn't say anything when they did that, which was welcoming compared to Rusty and his remarks whenever he would see them show any sign of affection to one another. "Hi Matthew, I heard you did really great at the doctor's this morning" Sharon said to the boy as he walked up to her. "I did and I got a Lolli-pop too for being brave" Matthew said to her. Sharon smiled at him and they made their way towards the kitchen. "This place looks so empty now" Sharon said to Andy as she placed the bag of food on the island counter. Matthew sat on one of the stools after he cleaned up his crayons. Sharon sat down next to him and Andy just stood across from the two of them.

After they were done eating lunch, Matthew started to get up. "Can I go play outside with Moxie in the yard?" Matthew asked them. Sharon looked at Andy. Andy nodded to her. "Sure Matthew, just be careful out there" Sharon said to the boy and then he ran off with Moxie chasing him. "Moxie has a vet appointment at 3 o'clock this afternoon" Andy informed Sharon. Sharon looked at her watch. It was 1:30 in the afternoon now. Andy cleaned up their lunch and placed everything in the garbage can. Sharon walked over to the windows to keep an eye on Matthew. Andy walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. She leaned back into his arms and sighed. "So what did Cynthia say to you this morning that's got you wound so tight?" Andy asked in a low voice. "We can talk about it later, I promise" she said to him. She wanted to take this time and just relax in his arms and not talk about anything.

"You know we could go outside and watch him from the porch swing" Andy suggested to her. They then made their way outside to the backyard where there was a porch swing hanging from the rafters. Matthew was having a good time chasing Moxie around the yard and then they would switch and Moxie would chase Matthew around. There was a fence surrounding the pool in the yard so they didn't have to worry about the two of them getting into the pool area. Sharon smiled at the sight before her. She didn't imagine this predicament when they went searching for a house and eventually finding this one to purchase. She never thought that they would be holding emergency foster care for a young boy and his dog. Andy looked over at Sharon as he held her hand in his, softly caressing it. "Penny for your thoughts?" Andy inquired to her. Sharon looked at Andy and smiled. "I just never thought that this is where we would be when we first looked at this house" she said and then adjusted her sitting position so she was leaning more into Andy's side. Andy placed his arm around her. "I know" Andy said and they both continued to watch the boy and dog play in the yard.

Andy looked at his watch and started to get up from the swing. "It's almost time for the dog's appointment" he said to Sharon and she stood up as well. "I could go with you guys" Sharon said to Andy. "That's fine with me" Andy said smiling to her. "Michael gave us two keys to the house and two keys to the apartment over the garage, but I want to change the locks first before we start moving in" Andy said to Sharon. "That's fine with me, are you going to do it?" Sharon inquired. "Yes I am, after Moxie is done at the vet, we could stop by Home Depot and pick up some new locks" Andy said to her. "Sounds good" Sharon stated and then walked back in the house.

"Hey Matthew! It's time to come in now" Andy said to the boy and both he and the dog came running up to Andy. Matthew was out of breath and the dog was panting. Matthew went inside with Sharon while Andy wanted to get the dog some water. Andy and Moxie made their way into the mud room where there was a sink and faucet. Andy looked around for some sort of water dish but couldn't find anything. He looked at Moxie who looked back at him. "I won't say anything if you don't" he said to the dog as he ran the water from the faucet. The dog jumped up and placed his two paws on the sink and leaned over to drink the water directly from the faucet.

They locked up the house and headed towards their cars. Andy followed Sharon to the condo where Sharon was going to drop off her car because there was no sense in having two cars at the new house when they returned to change the locks. Sharon then climbed into the car with all three of them and Andy drove to the vet's office on Santa Monica Blvd. During the ride over, Matthew was telling Sharon about his experience at the doctor's office this morning and how nice the doctor was. "I'm glad to hear" Sharon said to him and then she looked at Andy. Andy glanced over at her when they were stopped at a red light and he could tell that something was bothering her. But, like always Sharon would tell him eventually when she was ready. He was used to that by now. They arrived at the vet's office and all of them got out of the car except for Moxie. He wouldn't jump out of the car even though Matthew was talking to him. Andy went over to the back side of the car and picked Moxie up and placed him on the ground. "It's okay" Andy said to the dog as they now walked into the office. Andy walked up to the check in area with the dog and gave the vet tech the sample. "Moxie Flynn" he said to the vet tech and Sharon looked over at him. Andy looked back at Sharon and shrugged his shoulders. "What?" he said as they all sat down and waited for Moxie's turn. Sharon just shook her head and chuckled to herself. Andy was already attached. He even gave their last name to the dog! She just hoped everything would work out in the end.

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Okay, here it is the last chapter of this story, it is a little long. For those of you that want this story to continue, don't worry. This story arc will continue with my next story called _Firebug_. Stay tuned!...

Chapter 8

It turned out the dog was up to date on his Rabies tag and the bloodwork that the vet had taken came back in all normal ranges. The vet had estimated Moxie to be around four years old as Matthew couldn't remember when he had originally got him. The vet had also recommended that they get pet insurance as they don't know Moxie's history and the insurance was a good investment. Sharon looked at the brochure as Andy was checking out. He couldn't believe how much this vet visit had cost. He was definitely going to talk Sharon in to getting that vet insurance for Moxie. As they headed back to the car, Andy spoke to Sharon about the insurance for the dog. "We will look into it" she said as she climbed in to the car. Matthew and the dog climbed in to the back seat and Andy started to drive towards the Home Depot.

Andy was the only one who came into the Home Depot. Sharon, Matthew, and Moxie waited in the car for him. Sharon thought this would give her some time with Matthew. "I really like your new house Sharon" Matthew said to her as he looked out the window. Sharon didn't know what to say. "Oh, thank you Matthew" Sharon said. "Um, is it okay if I picked out a room already, Andy said it was okay?" Matthew asked Sharon. Sharon paused for a minute. "That's if I'm going to be staying with you" he added. Sharon could hear the hardship in his voice and that brought a tear to her eye. "Yes, of course it is Matthew" Sharon said as she wiped a tear away. "Good, cause I like the room that has the two windows that face the backyard" Matthew said to her in a serious tone. That made her laugh and in turn Matthew laughed as well.

Andy came out with five new lock sets and placed them in the car. "How many lock sets did you buy?" Sharon inquired as she saw the three bags. "Five" Andy said as he started the car and drove back to the new house. "You are going to install all five of them?" she asked. "Yes, Sharon. It is quite a simple task" he said to her and continued driving. It was now after 4 o'clock as Andy brought the bags in to the house. Matthew and Moxie went in to the kitchen and Matthew took out some things from his backpack and started to play with them on the kitchen counter. Sharon looked at Andy as he was starting to take apart the old lock set. "I hope you know what you are doing!" she said to him as she turned and headed towards the kitchen. "Ha ha" Andy said back to her and continued to take apart the old locks. It took him longer than he expected but he installed all five new locks and Sharon was impressed. She leaned in to him for a kiss. "Good job honey" she said to him as he kissed her back. He showed her how to use the new locks. He had installed the locks with the keypad so that they could use the keypad instead of a key. "We are so modern now" she teased him.

They locked up the house and headed back to the condo. "Um, Sharon? I think we need to tell our kids about Matthew and Moxie for that matter" Andy said to Sharon as they drove back to the condo. "I know we really should" she said to him as she looked out the window. Andy glanced in the rear view mirror and saw Matthew was sleeping. "Rusty is at Gus's tonight" Andy added to the conversation. "How about we call everyone when we get back before dinner" Sharon suggested. "That's fine" Andy said as he continued to drive. Fifteen minutes later he pulled the car in to the Condo's parking garage. Once parked, he saw Matthew was awake and the dog was eager to get out of the car. "Easy Moxie" Andy said as he grabbed the leash and Moxie jumped out of the car. Sharon opened the door for Matthew and he climbed out of the car. The four of them then went to the elevators and waited for one.

As they rode in the elevator, Matthew leaned over to where Sharon was standing and placed his arms around her. Sharon looked down at the boy and placed her left arm around his shoulder, holding him tight to her. Sharon then looked at Andy and gave him a small smile. Andy looked at her and smiled, but was worried about something, she could always tell with him. The doors opened and the four of them walked down the hallway to the condo's door. Andy opened the door and let go of Moxie. Sharon and Matthew followed Andy in and Sharon closed the door. Matthew was tired and he made his way to the chair in the living room and curled up in it. Moxie laid by his feet. "Do you want anything to drink?" Sharon asked Andy as she was standing in the kitchen now. Andy shook his head 'no' and then proceeded to the balcony. Sharon followed him there, but made sure they had an eye on Matthew.

Andy was leaning against the railing when Sharon joined him. She came up next to him and started to rub his back. "Everything okay?" she asked him. Andy stared at the sunset before him. 'How was he going to do this?' he thought to himself. He shook his head again and looked back at Sharon. "How am I supposed to be a foster father?" Andy asked her. "I messed it up twice before, and I don't want to mess it up again with Matthew" he said to her. Sharon grabbed his hand and held it to her chest. She looked into his eyes. "You're not going to be alone, Andy" Sharon started saying to him. "I'm here and together we will take care of Matthew" she said to him as she pulled him in for a hug. "Do you feel like I forced you into doing this?" Sharon said as she held him. "No" he said back to her and held her tightly.

"I almost messed it up this morning" Andy hesitated. His voice was muffled as his head was in Sharon's hair. "What do you mean?" Sharon inquired as she rubbed her back. "I stepped away from him for two minutes to see what the home inspector wanted and when I came back into the kitchen, he was gone" he said as he took a deep breath and continued. "I started to panic as I was looking for him and then I spotted him outside with the dog. I ran out there and was going to yell at him but something stopped me" he continued as he pulled back to look at Sharon. "How could I yell at a boy who just wanted to make sure his dog didn't have an accident in the house? How could I yell at him when he just lost everything" Andy said to her. Sharon comforted him and bit her lip. She hated when Andy got emotional. It didn't happen often, but when it did, Sharon was there to pick him up. "I know you are concerned about a lot of things from your past, Andy, but you have me now and you know how to deal with things better than before. You are not going to mess that up. One day at a time, right?" Sharon said to him and then pulled him down for a kiss. "Did you speak to your sponsor?" she whispered to him after they broke their kiss. "No, I was going to call him tonight and also go to a meeting tomorrow night" Andy said back to her as he looked at her green eyes.

Sharon glanced inside the condo to see Matthew, who was still curled up on the chair. "My conversation with Cynthia this morning was about her concerns regarding us being foster parents to Matthew" Sharon said to him as he pulled away. He looked down at her and traced her face with his hand. She closed her eyes as she leaned into his touch. "Like what kind of concerns?" he whispered to her. She opened her eyes and looked into his deep, brown eyes. "She wanted me to know that his situation is not like Rusty's was" she started to say to him. "Of course he's not like Rusty" Andy said back to her. "She also needs to come over to the new house to make sure it meets the requirements" Sharon said to Andy. "I don't think that's going to be a problem, Sharon. That house is plenty big for everyone" Andy added. "Anything else?" he asked her. She shook her head no. "We passed the criminal background check" she chuckled. "Well, I sure hope so, otherwise" Andy said as he shrugged his shoulders.

They moved inside the condo into the kitchen where Sharon was going to prepare dinner for them. "So what did my idiot partner say to you?" Andy asked as he helped her get a bowl from the cabinet. "He was concerned that we may be too old to look after Matthew" she said looking at him. "Huh, too old? I don't think we are too old" Andy said as he wrapped his arms around her from behind and nuzzled her neck. She swatted at his arms as she started to cook their meal. He stopped and allowed her to continue cooking. She was making a chicken and vegetable stir fry and as she was adding the baby carrots to the skillet, Andy kept stealing the carrots and eating them. She shook her head at him and continued cooking.

Andy took Moxie out for a short walk before dinner was ready and he thought about what Sharon had said to him earlier out on the balcony. He did know what was at stake and he definitely didn't want to lose her, she knew that too. He would do whatever it took. After the short walk, Andy and Moxie came back into the condo and dinner was ready. Matthew was already sitting at the table, ready to eat. Andy fed Moxie and then sat down at the table to join them. They ate dinner and Matthew asked them if he was going to go with them to work tomorrow. Sharon looked at Andy and then at Matthew. Sharon and Andy needed to discuss schools for Matthew since they had gotten the okay from Cynthia.

"Um, well Matthew we need to enroll you in a school so you can learn all kinds of things" Sharon said to the boy. "But, what school will I go to?" Matthew asked. "Well, Andy and I need to discuss that tonight" Sharon said as she started to clear all of the plates. Matthew took his plate and brought it to the sink. "Thank you" Sharon said to him as she placed his plate in the sink while Andy was loading the dishwasher. "Can I watch TV?" Matthew asked Sharon. "Sure, sweetie" Sharon said and then walked over to the TV while Matthew sat on the couch. She found some cartoon on a Disney channel that looked appropriate for Matthew's age. She made sure he was settled before returning to the kitchen where Andy was at.

"We need to tell our kids, Sharon" Andy said as she joined him at the table again. "We will call Nicole first, she'll be more understanding than the rest of them I think" Sharon said as she picked up the phone to call her. Andy could only imagine what Nicole would think of them fostering an eight year old. "Hi Nicole, it's Sharon. Your father and I have something we would like to discuss with everyone, but we are calling you first" Sharon said over the phone. Whatever Nicole said on the other end made Sharon relax a little bit. "Oh, well we had a case earlier this week that involved an eight year old boy and his dog. His mother was killed and we investigated the murder. Since the boy and dog didn't have any family to go to, he was placed in emergency foster care with us" Sharon said clearing her throat. "Oh my gosh" Nicole said to Sharon. "So he's going to be staying with us for a while and we wanted to let you know" Sharon added. Nicole must have been shocked because Sharon didn't hear anything on the other end of the line. "Um, wow" was all Nicole could say. "Here's your father" Sharon said as she handed the phone to Andy.

"Nicole?" Andy said. "Dad, are you guys sure about this? I mean the kid is eight years old, is he in school? Is that why you wanted to know about a good vet in the area?" Nicole rambled. "Yes, Nicole, to all of your questions. We need to enroll him in a school but we are not sure which one he should go to" Andy said to his daughter. "Well, Dad, uh he could go to the same school as the boys. It's a very nice and small school" Nicole said over the phone. "Oh, uh, well" Andy said as he scratched his head and looked at Sharon. "Give me the name of the school and I'll pass it along to Sharon" Andy stammered on the phone. He wasn't expecting that type of reaction from Nicole. He could hear Nicole laughing on the other end as he got a piece of paper out to write down the name. "What's so funny?" Andy said back to Nicole. "Nothing Dad" Nicole said "Just put Sharon back on the phone" she added.

Andy handed the phone back to Sharon. "She wants to talk with you" he said as he went to see what Matthew was watching on TV. Sharon shook her head and took the phone. "Yes Nicole" Sharon said. "Here's the information about the school the boys attend, it is actually located in Los Feliz neighborhood, so that would be good for when you guys move, right?" Nicole said. "Oh yes, that would be perfect and it's a Catholic school too, even better" Sharon said. Even though their marriage could not be blessed by the Catholic Church, Sharon still believed in her faith. It helped through Andy's surgery and other health scares and it also helped her with the Dwight Darnell shooting. "Thank you Nicole" Sharon said to her. "No problem, oh when can we meet Matthew?" she asked Sharon. "How about we get together this weekend, if we are not called out to a case" Sharon said. "Perfect, I'll ask Dean and we will set something up. Take care Sharon, and make sure my dad behaves himself" Nicole said and then hung up. "I will" Sharon said before she hung up the phone as well.

She needed to get the school information to Cynthia so that she could set up the enrollment. First, she needed to call her kids and she knew, from past experience, that they would not be so open minded as Nicole was. "Andy? Could you come back in to the kitchen for a minute?" Sharon asked out loud. Andy got up from the couch and walked in to the kitchen. "Here's the school info, could you look them up online and see if there is an application that needs to be filled out, we can start to do that now, so that tomorrow morning I can send the paperwork to Cynthia" Sharon said to him as she handed him the piece of paper. "Sure thing, sweetheart" Andy said and gave her a wink as he took the paper from her. 'Always a charmer' she thought to herself. She then began to dial Emily's number in New York.

Emily picked up the phone and saw it was her mother calling her. "To what do I owe this pleasure of my Mom calling me?" she said as she answered the phone. "Hi sweetheart, um the reason I'm calling is because Andy and I have some news that we need to tell you" Sharon said. Emily thought about it and wondered what it could be. "You're not pregnant are you Mom?" Emily asked and then laughed. "No, Emily!" Sharon stated and rolled her eyes. "What's up then?" Emily inquired. "Well, to make a long story short, we are fostering an eight year old boy whose mother was killed" Sharon stated. "Wow, Mom, that's horrible, I mean about his mother being killed" Emily said to her mom. "How did the kid come to live with you guys?" Emily asked her mom. "Well, we were the ones that found him, you see he was hiding since his mother got killed and we were able to find him and then" Sharon started rambling on. Her daughter just rolled her eyes while listening to her tell the story. "Okay, Mom, I get it" Emily finally stated. "Is this a permanent thing or just temporary?" she added. "Oh well I think right now it is pretty permanent unless a family member comes into light, but so far nothing" Sharon stated to her daughter. There was a little bit of silence on the other end of the phone. "Well, that's great Mom, hope you and Andy are able to help this kid out" Emily finally said. "Thank you Emily" Sharon stated. "Listen Mom, I've got to go. It's late here and I have early practice tomorrow morning" Emily said to her mother. "Ok, Emily. I love you. Have a good night!" Sharon said. "Good night Mom" Emily said and hung up.

Sharon looked at the phone for a second. 'Well, two down one to go' she thought to herself as she dialed Ricky's number. Ricky didn't answer his phone so Sharon left a voicemail for him. 'Hi Ricky, it's your mother calling. Andy and I have some news we would like to tell you, please call me back. Love you. Bye' Sharon left the message and hung up the phone. She would have rather told him in person but I guess Ricky must have been out. He would call back. Even if he didn't tonight, she was sure that Emily probably texted him the news. You could always count on siblings informing each other of the news. Matthew was still watching cartoons. Andy was sitting at Sharon's desk looking over the school information that Nicole had mentioned. Sharon came walking over to where he was at and looked at the papers over his shoulder. He handed them to her as he was done looking at them. "The application seems straightforward, we just fill in our names here and fill in what we know about Matthew here on top and then hand the paper to Cynthia?" Andy looked at Sharon. "Yes, that is how it works" Sharon said as she looked over the paperwork. "We would have to juggle our schedule to make sure he gets picked up on time, and they also have an extended child care program from when school gets out till 6pm every school night" Andy said to her.

It was heartwarming for her that he wanted to be involved in as much as he could. After their talk out on the balcony earlier, she was glad to see him eager to be involved again. She turned him around in his chair so that he faced her and leaned down to kiss him. He pulled her in as he placed his hands on her hips. "I love you" she whispered to him as she looked back into his eyes. "I love you too" he said as he smiled at her. "I know I expressed my fears earlier but we could do this, you know. I want to." Andy whispered to her looking her in the eyes. Just then, Sharon's phone rang. She saw it was Ricky and picked up while moving in to the kitchen.

"Hi Ricky" Sharon said to him over the phone. "Mom, what's this I hear about you and Andy fostering another kid?" Ricky questioned. "Oh, I see news travels fast from your sister" Sharon said to him. "Was your life not complicated enough or something?" Ricky stated. "Do not take that tone with me, mister" Sharon said to him. "Andy and I both discussed this and we both want to help the child out, so it is not open for you to discuss. We were just letting all of our children know what we were doing so they were not surprised when the holidays come around" Sharon scolded him over the phone. She had to do that before, in person, when he visited prior to Rusty's adoption. She didn't think she would have to do it again. "Okay Mom, okay. I'm sure you and Andy made the right choice. Sounds like this kid really needs the two of you. Don't get me wrong, Mom, I just want to make sure you don't get hurt, that's all" Ricky stated to his mother. "I appreciate your concern. I'll let you go Ricky. Thanks for calling me back." Sharon said. "Okay, bye Mom. I love you" Ricky said and then hung up the phone. "Love you too" Sharon said and hung up her phone.

She walked back to where Andy was still sitting at her desk. He was now filling out the paperwork for Matthew to attend school. "Everything okay with Ricky?" Andy asked hesitantly. "Oh just fine" Sharon huffed. "I think so far Nicole is the only one who is supportive of us in this fostering" Sharon added. Andy stopped what he was doing and stood up to meet her. He pulled her in for a hug and she wrapped her arms around his back. "It will all work out" Andy said to her as he rubbed her back in circles. Sharon nodded. She pulled away and looked at the paperwork Andy was filling out. He filled out most of it; all that was left was his and her signatures and some information regarding Matthew. Andy signed the paper and handed the pen over to Sharon who then applied her signature to the bottom on her side.

Sharon then went over to the TV where Matthew was watching some Star Wars cartoon. "Hey Matthew, it's getting late so how about we turn the TV off and get ready for bedtime?" Sharon quietly told him. Matthew got up off the couch and headed to Rusty's room with Moxie and Sharon following him. "See, easy" Andy quickly said to her as they passed him. Andy then made his way out to the balcony where he called his sponsor, like he promised Sharon he would. Andy had a nice talk with him and explained what was happening and how he was feeling. His sponsor told him exactly what Sharon had told him earlier at night. He had a support system now and was grateful for that. He told his sponsor he was going to hit a meeting tomorrow night.

Meanwhile, Sharon was helping Matthew get ready for bed. "Matthew, since you had a busy day, you need to take a bath and get all cleaned up before heading to bed. You will be starting a new school tomorrow" Sharon said to him. Matthew looked at Sharon with a frown on his face. "But, I don't want to take a bath" Matthew stubbornly said to her. This reminded Sharon of Ricky and his stubbornness when he was this age. "Matthew" Sharon said with her hands on her hips. Matthew looked at Sharon and then caved. "Okay" Matthew said and looked defeated. He made his way slowly in to the bathroom. Sharon followed him and made sure the bathtub was ready for him to take a bath. Moxie joined them in the bathroom, amidst Sharon's protest but these two were inseparable. All Moxie did was lay down by the sink and waited until Matthew was finished.

When Matthew was finished, he was all dressed for bed when Andy came back inside. "Can you read me a story?" Matthew said as he saw Andy walk into Rusty's room. Andy looked at Sharon who had the look of exhaustion on her face. "Sure kiddo" Andy said and sat down on the chair next to the bed and started to read him a story. About halfway through the story book, Andy glanced over at Matthew who was fast asleep. He stood up and tucked the boy in and made his way out to the hallway. He was also exhausted when he went in search of Sharon.

Sharon was sitting at her desk, looking at a folder that had Matthew's information in it. Andy placed his hand at the small of her back. "What's wrong?" Andy asked her. "I just never looked at all of the information on Matthew. His birthday is in December" Sharon said. She then stood up at her desk and gathered all the papers for Cynthia tomorrow. "I am going to be meeting Cynthia at the school tomorrow morning for 8 o'clock. I will take Matthew with me so that once Cynthia submits the paperwork to the school, Matthew can join his class" Sharon said to Andy. "Okay" Andy looked back at her. "We just need to figure out where Moxie is going tomorrow while we are both at work" Sharon added as she turned around to look at Andy.

Sharon received a text message on her phone from Rusty. 'Mom, if you need someone to watch Moxie tomorrow, Gus said he is off and would like to help out' Sharon read the text out loud to Andy. "Is he psychic or what?" Sharon said to Andy. Andy just shrugged his shoulders. "He knows his mother, that's all" Andy said to her. Sharon replied back to Rusty and told him that Gus's help would be much appreciated and if they could be back at the condo around 7:30. Andy then took Moxie out one more time for the night and when they came back in, Sharon was already in bed. Andy made sure Moxie didn't disturb Matthew and then he got ready for bed. He climbed into the bed with Sharon and slid behind her, placing his arms around her. "Good night" she said to him. "Good night" he said back to her.

The next morning, their alarm went off and Sharon and Andy got out of bed. "I'll go get Matthew up so you can get ready first" Andy said to Sharon as he passed her on the way to Rusty's room. Sharon grabbed Andy's hand as he was walking past her and smiled. He smiled back and she let go of his hand and she went in to the bathroom to take a shower. He got Matthew up with no problem. He was surprised by that. Matthew asked him if he was going to school today. "Yes, you are going with Sharon to your new school" Andy said to him. He seemed to be excited and Andy was grateful for that as he knew starting something new was scary, especially to a young kid. Matthew was all ready and made his way down the hall towards the kitchen. Andy followed him and made him breakfast, a bowl of cereal. Sharon then joined them as she was all ready for work. Andy kissed her and then he went back to the bedroom to get ready for work himself.

"What is this school going to be like?" Matthew asked Sharon as she sat down and joined him at the table. "You will learn a lot of new things and there will be other kids your age that you will meet" Sharon said to him. Matthew continued to eat his cereal. "Where's Moxie going to go while I am at school?" Matthew asked. "Moxie is going to be taken care of by Rusty and his friend Gus today" Sharon said as she ate her breakfast. After taking a quick shower Andy got dressed in a dark suit with a lavender shirt and tie. He liked matching his outfit with Sharon, and it still drove Provenza nuts when they would show up matching somehow. He then made his way with the dog to the kitchen. As he joined everyone at the table, his phone went off. That ring tone could only mean one thing and he knew Provenza wasn't calling to see how everyone was. They had caught another case; Provenza told him over the phone and gave him the address of the crime scene.

Rusty and Gus walked in to the condo as Andy was on the phone. Moxie came over to them and greeted both of them, jumping up on Gus as he was excited to see another person. Sharon walked over to them and began to tell Rusty and Gus what was happening. "We just caught a case, Andy is heading over there now and I am meeting Cynthia in 30 minutes at the new school for Matthew" Sharon said as Rusty nodded. She then turned to Gus who was playing with Moxie. "Thank you Gus for doing this today, especially on your day off" Sharon said to Gus. "Anything to help out" Gus said to Sharon as he shrugged his shoulders. Rusty walked over to where Matthew was getting his things ready in his backpack. Rusty helped him. "Hey, I just want to tell you good luck at your new school, you will be just fine" Rusty told him. Matthew smiled at him and then grabbed his backpack and walked over to where Sharon and Andy were waiting for him. "Thanks again!" Sharon said as they left the condo, leaving Gus and Rusty to watch the dog.

Andy walked hand in hand with Sharon to the elevator as Matthew was walking in front of them. "Where is the crime scene?" Sharon asked him quietly so Matthew didn't hear. "It's in the Crenshaw neighborhood, looks like an arson but it's never that simple" Andy started to say as the elevator opened its doors. "What makes it a Major Crime if it's an arson?" Sharon asked Andy. "Provenza wouldn't tell me over the phone" Andy said as they stepped out and headed to their cars. He walked Matthew and Sharon to her car and waited for them to get in. "Good luck at your new school Matthew, I want to hear all about it later tonight" Andy said to Matthew, being optimistic. "Good luck, I'll keep you apprised of the case" Andy said to Sharon as he kissed her good bye. Sharon got in her car and then drove off to meet Cynthia at the new school. She secretly hoped that this new case they had just caught would be a fast solve for her and her team. Andy got in to his car and drove off to meet the rest of the team at the crime scene.

The end


End file.
